Picking up the Pieces
by piercing pen
Summary: Shattered friendships. Broken promises. Mistakes have been made, and it's Hermione's job to fix them. What happens when she falls in love in the process? RLHG, TT. Rated T for adult innuendo and language. R&R!
1. Those Twinkling Eyes

**Disclaimer:** I wonder if JK ever reads fanfic to get ideas for the books…that's beside the point. I just want to say I'm not JK, so I only own the plot, but none of the characters (except ones that I've made up myself. I am sure you can differentiate).

**Authors Note: ** This is a story filled with the marvelous wonders of TIME TRAVEL! Hope you like it, R&R.

Those Twinkling Eyes

Hermione sat in the Gryffndor common room, rather cold and lonely. A strange melancholy filled her, and she was hit with a wave of cold. She warmed her face by the fire, but it did nothing to help the dark chill of her mood. Something just didn't seem right. She noted that it was getting late and decided to go up to bed, hoping that she'd feel better tomorrow.

Yawning loudly, she crawled into bed and slipped into a gentle slumber.

Upon waking up…

Hermione opened her eyes only to be greeted by a blinding golden light streaming through the high windows of the dormitory.

"Who are you?" someone asked Hermione.

Hermione sat up and looked around. A girl about her age with long red hair and vivid green eyes sat staring at her from the foot of her bed. She seemed eerily familiar to Hermione, but Hermione couldn't put a name to the girl's face.

"I could ask you much the same," Hermione replied, attempting to be good natured despite her utter confusion about the nature of the mysterious girl.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry; I'm Lily Evans," the girl replied evenly.

Hermione gasped audibly. To cover her surprise, she replied with an airy, " Oh goodness, I just remembered. I need to go see the headmaster. Bye!".

She raced out of the common room, barely noticing that all she had on were her warmest pajamas and a fluffy robe. She raced down the corridors of the great castle, her heart beating madly. Shock continued to wash over her as she turned corner after corner. Finally finding herself at the large stone gargoyle that concealed the entrance to Dumbledore's office, she started frantically guessing at passwords.

"Fizzing Whizbees! Cockroach Cluster! Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans!" she cried at the ugly statue. Upon hearing her last words, the statue opened up, and Hermione sped up the cold stone stairs. She knocked on the intricately carved wooden door at the top of the staircase, and received a mere, "Come in."

She threw open the door and sat down in the large, squishy armchair that was placed before the great wizard's large wooden desk. "Professor Dumbledore, sir,…well, I don't know how to explain, but…I saw someone…golden light…erm…I am _really _confused sir, that's what I mean to say," she finally summarized.

The wise old professor smiled at her last words, his eyes twinkling in that bizarre way of his. "I'm not quite sure what you mean," he replied unconvincingly. A hint of a smile was tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Erm, well, I just saw…this is going to sound preposterous, but I just saw…L-Lily Evans," she said hesitantly.

"Well, what else would you expect, Miss Granger? It's 1979. Lily's in her fifth year at Hogwarts, along with James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter. You can probably find her at the breakfast table."

"But how is this possible?" Hermione said, trying to remain calm. "I haven't even been _born_ yet!"

"This is a rare case," Dumbledore said seriously. " From what you've told me, I can gather that there must have been some sort of mistake made in this time. More than likely, there will be several mistakes only you can fix. You have been guided by fate to this time, Miss Granger, and it is your duty to fix the errors made, whatever they may be."

"Will I ever get to go back to my own time?" Hermione asked, trembling slightly.

"It is your choice, Miss Granger," Dumbledore replied, looking even more serious now. "Just do what you think needs done. Is there anything I should know just now, to perhaps prevent mistakes I could be making at this very moment?"

"Not just now, I think. Erm, If I am to inform you of what should be done…I'll do it sooner to the date of its doing, if that makes any sense at all."

"I'm sure it does, Miss Granger. Get dressed, and head down to the Great Hall."

Hermione wandered down the deserted corridors of the great Hogwarts castle, pondering the mystery of all that had happened to her and those twinkling eyes.

**Beta by: **Piercing Pen's darling baby sister, Earth-Wind-Fire-Ice. It is she who is writing this right now, or else I probably wouldn't have been called darling, or even been associated with her as a relative.


	2. can we have another snake?

**Disclaimer:** Well, my loves, we meet again. I still haven't collected all of the ingredients needed for polyjuice potion, and I am pretty sure that even if I took some and became JK Rowling, I still wouldn't actually own any of her characters.

**Authors Note: ** Chapter two is U-P up! Yes, that's right ladies and gents…enjoy!

Hermione wasn't particularly hungry, so she decided to forgo breakfast and take a long, hot shower. Afterwards, she tied her hair into a loose knot on the top of her head, and even put on a little bit of makeup. Surprisingly, she felt a little bit better with her hair done and some makeup on. She rarely did much with her hair, aside from brushing it, and wore only minimal amounts of makeup depending on her mood, but she figured since Harry and Ron weren't there, there really wasn't anyone to take the mickey out of her for wanting to look nice.

Upon returning to the dormitory, she found a fifth year timetable waiting for her on her bed. Although she had already finished her sixth year, Hermione didn't mind, and looked upon it as an opportunity to review and brush up on her skills. Since her first period was free, she headed down to the common room to see what was happening with her fellow Gryffindors.

She headed down to the common room to claim her usual armchair by the fire, and was greeted by five very familiar faces.

Much younger versions of Remus, James, Sirius, Peter, and Lily were stumbling through the portrait hole. "That's the new girl, the one I was talking about," Hermione heard Lily mutter to the rest of the Marauders.

They were all in when finally one of the guys noticed her. "Hey, I'm Remus. You must be new here."

"Yes, I am. Hermione Granger. And they are…" she replied, motioning to the group in which she already knew the names of everyone.

"Ah, that's Sirius," Sirius waved at her "that's James over there. I think you've met Lily, and as I said, I'm Remus. Oh and that's Peter. "He said, finishing off.

Sirius looked the same as ever, his black hair worn long and casually messy. His mischievous smile showed off pearly white teeth, and his black eyes seemed to be laughing at the world. James was the image of Harry, complete with messy black hair and a slim build. The only difference between father and son were the eyes and lack of scar. Whereas James had hazel eyes, Harry's were a jazzy emerald, exactly like the Lily that was standing before Hermione. Peter looked…well, like a rat. His small, beady eyes darted around the room, and large front teeth marred his smile, which was framed by a rather fat face. Hermione glanced around and got a proper look at Remus. She had to stop her jaw from dropping.

Short raven hair lightly speckled with grey framed a soft oval face. Bright silver eyes held a strange softness, and pale skin only added to his good looks. A slim but muscular build was visible beneath a dark grayish-blue shirt worn under his very dilapidated Gryffindor robes. After taking this all in, Hermione concluded that this younger version of Remus Lupin was one of the most handsome specimen of the male species she had ever seen.

Remus eventually began to notice her stare. Blushing furiously, he took in the appearance of the intelligent witch standing in front of him. Although she was wearing the standard baggy robes, he could still tell that she had a beautiful figure, albeit a slight one. Underneath her robes, she wore a gorgeous burgundy sweater that clung loosely to her petite frame. A gentle face was complimented by two soft curls that had managed to escape from the loose knot on top of her head. She wore little makeup; her face was beautiful enough not to need any at all. Striking was the best word Remus could think of to describe her.

They both eventually began to notice that each was staring longingly at the other, and both began to blush profusely.

Hermione attempted to break the almost (but not quite) awkward silence. "How long have you all been at Hogwarts?" she said.

"This is our fifth year. What year are you in?" Remus asked politely. The others were distracted by Sirius, who was playfully picking up Lily and running around with her, much to James' dismay.

"I'm a fifth year," Hermione said. "What class do you have after this free period?" she asked nonchalantly, both of them venturing towards the seat by the fire.

"Potions. After that I have transfiguration, and then it's lunch for me. You?" "Exactly the same!" After comparing schedules for quite some time, they realized that their schedules were identical down to the last minute.

James, Sirius, Lily, and Peter sat down in the chairs around them. They all chatted happily for several minutes, when Sirius cracked under the pressure. "Can we go to the kitchens? I'm hungry," he whined.

"Sirius! It's been about half an hour since breakfast and you're already hungry?" Lily asked, surprised. Apparently, even after knowing him for several years, she was still blissfully unaware of his dinosaur-like eating habits.

"Well, I was thinking more of Hermione, since she didn't seem to be at the breakfast table this morning…" Sirius said, with a pout on his handsome face.

"Oh bull," Remus said, laughing, "You're just making excuses because you want to go to the kitchen!" After some more casual banter, the group trooped to the kitchens.

After Sirius had emptied the kitchens of all food and many kitchen utensils (he wasn't really all that picky about what went into his mouth) the bell rang for them to go to class. The motley group headed to the dungeons for potions, where Professor Slughorn proceeded to teach them about the joys of the Strengthening Solution. "Divide up into pairs, and begin to make the potion using the instructions I have given you on the board. Off you go now!"

James and Lily were, unsurprisingly, together. As the lovebirds sat and giggled rather than making the potion, Sirius and Peter paired off and lit a roaring fire under their cauldrons. Meanwhile, thoughts were flying wildly through Remus' head. _Why does she have to be so damn pretty? It's bloody intimidating! Ok, just say, 'Hermione, would you like to be my partner?' No, no, that's too forward! 'Hermione, would you like to work with me?' Yeah, that fits. Alrighty, here goes…_

Before he could even get the words out Hermione said, "Hey, Remus, want to work with me?" _Great minds think alike_ Remus mused silently as he replied "That would be…an honor". Realizing what he'd just said, he blushed slightly. Hermione smiled secretly to herself as she poked the wood under their cauldron and murmured, "Incendio," as flames immediately sprung forth from her wand. She and Remus worked well together. Hermione was the more apt one, of course, since she had already taken the class. Remus was just rather good at potions. At the end of the class, they flasked their potion and took it up to be graded. "My my, m'dears, that is wonderful. I haven't seen a potion this great since…I don't even know when. Twenty points to each of you for Gryffindor!" Slughorn said as they placed it on his desk and waited for a grade to be slapped on. They were each given a sheet which read, "Outstanding! Brilliant work," and the potion was vanished. They both left the classroom rather pleased.

The large, somewhat mismatched group head happily to transfiguration, another class which they all shared. _Hermione seems to be settling in _Remus thought happily to himself. He enjoyed her company immensely.

Professor McGonagall was looking the same as always, Hermione noticed. _I bet she hasn't changed at all since she's taught at this school. I bet she hasn't changed at all since she was born. I think she came out with a bun on top of her head and a stern look on her face. She probably looked around the hospital and snapped, "Well, get back to work!" when she was born…good old McGonagall…she is really a constant in life, _Hermione pondered to herself. Today they were learning about how to transfigure snakes into ribbons. Again, they were told to join up into pairs. _What is it about these Hogwarts professors and pairs? Not that I mind, _Remus considered, noticing that people were quickly dividing off into pairs. "Want to work with me?" Remus asked Hermione, praying for another chance to be close to her. She smirked a little and replied "It would be…an honor." Remus blushed a bit at her teasing, but he knew she was joking. They grabbed what appeared to be a large, electric blue python.

"You go ahead first, Remus." Hermione insisted. Remus raised his wand, and, with a slight flick of his wand, nonchalantly recited, "Moltsmole." A loud bang followed by profuse smoke issued as their snake exploded. Hermione jumped and landed in Remus' arms, much like people do to each other in comic books and cartoons when something frightening happens. They stayed there, Hermione being held by Remus, looking into each others eyes, drawing closer and closer to each other, for just a little too long. People began to wolf whistle, so Remus finally set her gently down on the desk, looked timidly up at professor McGonagall, who was staring at them with those hawk-like eyes, and said "Erm…could we have another snake?"


	3. Truth or Dare?

**Disclaimer:** It would be very contradictory if JK Rowling were to write fanfic, thus you can assume I am not JK Rowling and therefore I do not own any characters.

**Authors Note:** Thank you very much for all of the reviews!

**Chapter 3: Truth or Dare?**

No one else's snake exploded and the rest of Transfiguration went quite smoothly. Hermione failed to make eye contact with Remus for the rest of the class (out of sheer humiliation), and had left the classroom quite quickly and went to her dormitory, partly to avoid the other marauders who she knew would tease her (good naturedly, of course), and partly to take five minutes to think.

Being in his arms seemed so…so…_comfortable_ she thought to herself. Yes, that seemed to be the right word. Comfortable.

_But what if you go back to the future, and he REMEMBERS? That would be BEYOND awkward! _

_But why worry so much? You know the old motto: Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you may die. Live for the moment! Why worry?_

_Because…_

Her inner argument ended at that moment because Lily came in to grab her Care of Magical Creatures textbook. Care of Magical Creatures was another class all the Marauders shared. _Does Dumbledore do that on purpose? _Hermione pondered.

Hermione gave up the whole thinking process and headed down to lunch, where the Marauders had saved her seat. _Wow. I've been here for a day, and I'm already practically a regular Marauder. I wonder if they'll do some sort of barbaric initiation or something if I get offered to join? _She thought to herself, almost laughing out loud.

Remus had purposely saved her a seat across from him. As Hermione predicted, it wasn't long before the group decided that normal topics of conversation were dull, and talk drifted to the exploding snake incident.

"So, I noticed you and Remus were quite cozy in transfiguration. Remus, I thought you had some modesty!" Sirius said with a grin, showing off his perfect teeth.

"Yeah, I thought you were the good one!" James added in a delighted voice and giving a bizarre cackle, which earned him a funny look from the rest of the gang.

"I haven't the faintest what you're talking about" Remus replied hotly, a pink tinge creeping up his neck.

"Oh really? Let me refresh your memory. You wouldn't put her down when she jumped oh-so-dramatically into your arms to get closer to you under the pretense of being frightened by the snake, and you were practically snogging her in the classroom!" Sirius replied, his already huge (and marvelously white and shiny) grin growing larger.

Hermione, who was starting to become annoyed, huffed, "You know, I'm right here. And we were not snogging! We were barely even touching!"

"Whatever," said Sirius with an all-knowing look on his face. "You know you wanted to," he continued, in a Grandfatherly sort of voice.

"Changing the subject," James said hastily at the look on Hermione's face, "Tomorrow is a Hogsmeade weekend. Hermione, would you like the grand tour? No one knows more about Hogsmeade then us…" A devilish grin came over his face as he said this. Hermione laughed and gladly accepted. She already knew everything about Hogsmeade herself, but it would be fun to go with them.

For once, Hermione had an enjoyable time in Care of Magical Creatures. No one got hurt, anyway. Professor Kettleburn seemed slightly more responsible than Hagrid to Hermione, and she savored actually learning something rather than fearing for her life like she did in Hagrid's class.

Later that evening, after dinner, Hermione decided to head down to the library. Not because she had homework, but simply because it was a constant at Hogwarts, and was something familiar to her in this strange world. As she meandered through the rows of books, she heard a familiar voice.

"HEY! Snivelly, I know something you don't know!" Sirius yelled at the adolescent Severus Snape.

_Oh God, _Thought Hermione as she eavesdropped from behind the bookshelf. _This is the prank Sirius plays on Snape where he tells Snape about the Shrieking Shack to get him killed! What to do…what to do….this CAN'T happen again….Harry deserves to be happy in our time! Maybe this is one of the things I'm supposed to fix! I might as well give it a try._

"Here's a hint," Sirius goaded, "it has to do with the Shr-"

"Sirius," Hermione chided playfully, "Quit yelling in the library! It isn't Kosher!"

"May I ask what Kosher is?" Sirius replied, thrown off by the distraction. "Kosher…basically when I say that it isn't Kosher, it means it isn't done."

"Erm...Ok Hermione, whatever…you and your weird terms. HEY! Wanna go get the guys and go to the kitchen?" he asked, completely forgetting what he was doing. _Thank God he has a short attention span. _"Sure," Hermione replied.

On Saturday the Marauders, Hermione, and Lily got a carriage to Hogsmeade together. Their first stop was Zonko's.

"Hermione, we have GOT to go in there!" James said excitedly, pulling her along "In January, it's the Annual Prank-Off among the Marauders! This is always the weekend when we go get supplies for whatever pranks we're playing!"

"What are the 'official' rules to the Prank-Off?" Hermione asked, a smile playing across her face.

"Well, we first pick teams. Each year the teams change. This year, it's me and Peter vs. Remus and Sirius. We have to each pick a Slytherin and a teacher to prank. Whoever gets the most detentions wins. You have a month to come up with your plan, and the Hogsmeade weekend in November is always the time where we pick up materials we may need." James said while absentmindedly flipping through a catalogue of Zonko's owl-order only products. "What do you win?" Hermione questioned.

"We have a small trophy which goes over your bed, plus a year's worth of bragging rights," James answered with an evil grin. "Sirius and I won last year."

"How about I add in a little prize of my own?" Hermione said with an uncharacteristic smirk playing across her face.

James looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "And what could you possibly have to offer that's worthy of the most important event of the year?"

"Whichever group wins gets their homework done for a month." Hermione said with a grin on her face.

James jaw dropped, and he immediately told the other Marauders. They seemed to like this idea a lot; they weren't really the studious type.

After they had raided Zonko's, James suggested they head to the Hog's Head for some drinks.

After they had seated themselves comfortably at the table in front of the grimy fireplace, they decided to play a little game the Marauders had made up in their third year.

"Here's how it goes, Hermione," Remus explained. "You are given a dare. If you don't want to take it, then you can do a truth. But if you pick truth, you have to take a shot of Firewhiskey."

After considering the consequences of this, she finally agreed. _Eat, drink, and be merry, _she thought to herself.

They ordered Firewhiskeys all around. "You give a dare to the person to your left," Remus said. "James always starts."

Peter was the unfortunate one on James' left. "I dare you to…kiss Sirius on the cheek." Peter shot a disgusted look at Sirius, who was grinning cheekily, and took a shot. "The person on the right of the one who took a shot gets to give them their truth," Remus explained. "Peter…hmm…would you ever consider being gay for a day?" he asked. Peter blushed and gave an abhorrent, "OF COURSE NOT!" which made everyone laugh.

The game went on and on, and they sank into drunkenness. After the fifth round, they decided to change seats. It came time when Hermione was going get to give Peter a truth, as that was how they were arranged. "If yyyou had to pick," she slurred, "Would you Joiin Vooldemorrt aand beetrrayy your freeinds or diee…knowing that your friends would llive if yyyyou diedd?"

Peter looked shocked. "Is that a question that even needs to be asked?"

"Yyyess" Hermione slurred "Prommmisse meee you'lll neeeevver betray your friends. Ever. PROOOMMMMISSSE ME!" she yelled angrily.

"I promise. And I would never do that, you know, betray my friends, to answer your question!" he said indignantly. Remus, who was the only sober one their, decided it was high time for some sobering charms. "Sobrero," he said as he pointed his wand at each of them.

"What made you ask that, Hermione?" Sirius asked, very confused. Of course, that was normal for him. Hermione looked down and decided to lie." I had a bad dream that something like that happened. You did mean it though, when you promised me?" she added curtly. "Of course," said peter, "that is a horrible thing to do. I will never…ever"

"You kid's are being too damn rowdy!" the bartender bellowed. "Get out!"

"Happens every time… it's almost time to go back to school, too." James said sadly.

"Why don't we stay out a little later?" Sirius asked,"Let's go to The Three Broomsticks for a bit…we don't HAVE to go yet, do we?"

"Not a bad idea, Padfoot. To The Three Broomsticks!" yelled James, running off and humming some sort of superhero-like theme song.

"Are you sure that sobering charm worked?" Hermione asked Remus under her breath as James darted behind bushes and threw people suspicious looks, still humming.

"Yeah, he always does this," Remus replied casually.

The Marauders had been at the bar for about an hour when something happened that none of them were prepared for. Professor McGonagall walked in and took a seat at the bar, drinking shot after shot. The Marauders were momentarily stunned, but immediately started laughing when the shock wore off. Just as they were about to leave McGonagall got up and turned around. They stared at each other for several moments in a sort of somber silence. "This," McGonagall said slowly, "Never happened. I never saw you, you never saw me, do you understand?"

After they were a good distance from The Three Broomsticks, Sirius, broke the silence. "I always knew Minerva liked me."

**Beta by:** EarthWindFireIce aka my darling sister.

**Authors Note:** I hope you loved it!


	4. Secret Santa

**Disclaimer:** Which of the following isn't true: A-zebra's are black with white stripes B-Anthony Hopkins is a great actor or C-I own Harry Potter

If you guessed C you are correct!

**Authors Note: **Hallo! I loooove this story. Got done with the outline last night. WHOO it is LONG! Expect much, much more of this!

**Beta's Note:**Hey! As you all know, I am currently the "beta" of this story. But, my sister decided that since I do so much work on the story, including editing, and story ideas, the name co-author fits just a little better. How I love being a creative genious.

The weeks past quickly. Hermione settled in nicely to the group, and they spent almost all of their time together.

After Charms one day, during a free period, Hermione came back from the library to see the Marauders all sitting around a floating, upside-down Christmas hat, chatting merrily.

"What's with the hat?" Hermione asked as she stepped in the Common Room.

"Secret Santa. We were waiting for you to get back so we could start drawing!" Peter squeaked excitedly.

Hermione grinned and sat down around the hat with the rest of the bunch.

"Alrighty then. James, you first!" Sirius said nudging him in the ribs with his elbow. James grinned as he pulled out the small piece of paper, which read _Sirius_. Sirius made a dramatic show of reaching into the hat, acting like it was eating his arm, as he picked out _Peter_. Remus closed his eyes, and his heart leapt as he read _Hermione_! He immediately began panicking, but stowed away his emotions for now, as to avoid the looks he would get if he began muttering to himself. After all, he remembered what happened the last time he did that. Merlin's Asylum for the Mentally Disturbed was not a pretty place, no matter how many tranquilizers were needed to restrain you. Peter danced around on the hat and read his name _James._ Hermione reached into the hat bravely and picked out the name _Remus_.

"Ok. Remember, NO TELLING! That takes out all the fun!" Sirius barked.

"Lily, would you like to go shopping in Hogsmeade with me? We could do our Christmas shopping, too!" Hermione said to Lily as she walked over. Lily, of course, complied and began chatting animatedly about the presents they would buy, and the guys, sensing a long bout of "shopping talk", slunk out of the room.

"Close one, eh?" Sirius muttered to Remus. "Remember when we got dragged into that discussion about whether Lily's has a 'winter' complexion or a 'summer' complexion? That must've lasted hours! I was starving by the end of it!"

"Sirius, it only lasted five minutes. It seemed like hours to you because you pretended to have a hunger seizure and knocked yourself out by running into the wall over and over again."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

Lily and Hermione had a great time in Hogsmeade. Hermione found the perfect gifts for Remus, James, Sirius, Peter, and Lily.

For Remus, she got a large book of complicated spells. James and Sirius each got personalized metal flasks (for Firewhiskey and other alcoholic beverages, one can assume). For Lily, Hermione picked out a set of beautiful multicolored quills and ink. Peter got a set of pajamas with little dancing rats all over them, seeing as how Peter's current set of pajamas was rather ragged and holey.

"Lily, is there an apothecary here, by any chance?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

They walked down, as Hermione planned in her head.

The Wolfsbane potion would not be invented for 20 years. During Hermione's third year, after figuring out that Lupin was a Werewolf, she immediately did some research on the complicated potion, reading everything she could. She had secretly learned to make the Wolfsbane potion herself, since Harry had mentioned a suspicion that the smoking goblet of potion was being poisoned by Snape. Secretly, she had switched the potions as protection. Even though she fully trusted Snape (although she had no fond thoughts for him) she wasn't about to take chances. She hoped that she could find all the ingredients she needed, as this was going to be her Secret Santa gift to Remus.

She looked carefully through the isles, mentally checking things off as she picked them up, mumbling to herself every once in a while. After picking up everything she needed, she paid, and she and Lily headed down to Madam Puddifoot's to have some tea and meet up with the boys.

Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus were already at a table, enjoying tea and small frog-shaped cookies, with pink icing. Sirius in particular seemed to be enjoying them a little too much, as he kept giggling at the sight of them and saying things like, "So cute!" in a breathy voice. After he had earned a fair share of weird looks and people backing away from him, he had the sense to stop. The Marauders had apparently been Christmas shopping too, as there were bags piled up around them. They chatted merrily, and then went back to the castle, occasionally being stopped by passing carolers.

In the next several weeks, Hermione went to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom every day to make the Wolfsbane potion. She had carefully written out the exact instructions as she worked, so that Remus could make the potion for himself. On the day before Christmas Eve, after many failed attempts, Hermione finally got it right. She bottled it in a flask, and wrote a note to him:

_Remus,_

_This is the Wolfsbane potion. I have been working long and hard on it, and I have figured out a way to make your transformations less painful and dangerous. Instead of turning into a werewolf, you will simply be turned into a regular wolf. In other words, you will keep your mind during your transformations. Please trust me; I know what I'm doing. Enclosed are instructions for how to make the potion, so that way you can have it all the time instead of only on Christmas._

_From,_

_Your Secret Santa_

_P. S: Do not add sugar or any kind of flavoring to it, it will make it very useless. Also, you must start drinking it about 2 days before the full moon or it won't work properly._

She smiled, boxed the flask and note, and wrapped it in bright green wrapping paper, adding a tag with Remus' name on the top of it.

On Christmas Eve, she skipped out on dinner, and put the present under the tree where they had agreed to put the Secret Santa presents. She was hungry, yes, but what if someone came and took it? Then they'd all know Remus' secret. She sat down and finished her Transfiguration essay, patiently waiting for her friends to return.

The Marauder's returned to the dorm after what seemed like an age. They settled around the tree and one by one opened their Secret Santa presents.

Sirius received a gift certificate to Zonko's. James got a bottle of Firewhiskey. Peter received a large box of Honeyduke's finest.

Hermione opened a wizarding camera and picture development kit, along with an empty scrapbook with HG emblazoned on the front in fancy lettering. With a note: _I hope you have many happy memories to fill this scrapbook with. Merry Christmas. From your Secret Santa_

Remus reached for his present. Hermione's heart pounded wildly, feeling as if it were about to burst. He tore the wrapping off the box, opened it, and all the marauders fell silent as they read the note.

Remus immediately put on a fake grin as he looked up at Hermione.

" Merlin's Moon-Shine. Strongest alcohol in the world. I'll save it for later though". He quickly put the note back in the box along with the flask.

They talked for a while, although Hermione noticed that Remus seemed very uneasy and nervous, and kept shooting glances to the Marauders nervously. Catching the hint, Hermione fake yawned and said she wanted to go to bed as she was very tired. She gave each of them a hug and trudged up the dormitory steps.

**BACK IN THE COMMON ROOM**

"Remus, mate, that is really amazing! I can't believe someone would go through that trouble to make it, it looks really complicated." James said, reading through the directions for the potion again.

"The potion doesn't even exist. Don't you think we would've checked something like this out, James? Whoever gave me this invented it. They must've known a whole lot about advanced potion theory. If you look at the ingredients though, it could work." Remus said thoughtfully.

"But what if it's a trick?" Peter said quietly, twitching

"Do you really think a friend of his would trick him like that? It'd be awfully mean." Sirius replied.

"It doesn't matter. I don't care if it's a trick; I might as well try it. Full moon's already passed this month, though, so I'll try it in January." Remus insisted.

"Well, we'll wait and see." Sirius replied in an all-knowing kind of voice that made the other Marauders stare.

Hermione awoke the next morning to a pair of large black eyes staring at her. She shot up in her bed and screeched "SIRIUS! What the HELL are you doing in here? Didn't the staircase turn into a slide like it always does?" She glanced over at the clock. "IT IS SIX IN THE MORNING! WE DON'T HAVE CLASS! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"The Marauders are waiting for you so we can give you your presents, and visa versa, we hope. And I know how to get past the slide." He said, jumping up and down like he was four years old. Hermione grumbled, slid on her slippers, and headed down with him, sliding down the staircase next to him.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Peter piped up loudly, hopping around much as Sirius had done. She grinned as she looked around at the whole group, James in a Santa cap, Remus sitting quietly, Sirius bringing around flasks of hot chocolate he had gotten from the house elves. "Thanks" Hermione said gratefully.

James picked up a present and gave it to Sirius. "It's from me. I know you'll love it" James said as Sirius opened a large bottle of Merlin's Moon-Shine. "How ironic. Here's your Christmas present from me," Sirius replied, grinning as James opened a bottle of Merlin's Moon-Shine also.

"What luck," Hermione said to them, "open my presents to you!"

James and Sirius each tour the wrapping paper off of two black, shiny flasks. James' had _Prongs_ in gold lettering, and Sirius' read _Padfoot_. "These are great Hermione. But how did you know our nicknames?" James said with a large smile.

"Erm…I heard you call each other that once" she replied, hoping they bought the lie.

Apparently they did, as Peter just shrugged, and opened the pajamas Hermione had gotten him. He began to beam. She gave her present to Remus. He opened it and immediately began to read.

Remus also got several more books, one about advanced potion making from Peter and one called "Invent Your Own Spells, Grade Six: A Masters Course" from Sirius, both of which had in fact been on his Christmas list. From James, Remus received some candy; Firewhiskey Liquor Truffles.

James received several Zonko's products from Remus and Peter, and Sirius got various kinds of alcohol from everyone, commenting, "They know me entirely too well," after opening the last bottle with a cackle.

Peter received nothing but pajamas, which he didn't seem to mind. He seemed to realize that his current ones were ugly, and loved each new pair that he received.

Hermione received from James a beautiful set of quills, each one a different color with ink to match. From Peter, she got some chocolate. Sirius got her a book titled "Never Get Caught: Pranking for Dummies". Although she loved all of these, Remus' gift for her was the best of all.

She opened a small box with a silver charm bracelet. Her name was engraved on a small circular charm on the center of the bracelet. On one side of the circular charm was a silver wand with stars coming out of it. On the other was a book. She studied it looking carefully at each of the charms, muttering "wow" every couple of seconds. She looked up at Remus, who looked a little apprehensive, and said, "This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Thank you so much." Hermione ran over and gave him a huge hug, ignoring the wolf whistles of Sirius, James, and Peter. Remus, his usual shy self, was blushing furiously and mumbling, "It was nothing".

Several days later, the marauders and Hermione were around the fire, counting down the minutes till the New Year and the beginning of the Annual Prank-Off. They had agreed to start at exactly five after midnight, 'starting' defined as taking the first steps out of the portrait hole. Sirius had brought down his bottle of Merlin's Moon-Shine and 5 shot glasses, insisting that they drink at midnight._ Good God, I'm turning into an alcoholic. These people are a bad influence on me!_ Hermione thought while accepting her shot glass with a smile.

The clock struck, the Marauders and Hermione drank, and each team of pranksters grabbed the materials they'd need to play the perfect prank. Both groups raced out of the portrait hole at exactly 12:05, and Hermione crawled into bed, barely able to wait to see what was going to happen the next day.

Hermione went down to breakfast with the Marauders a little bit early the next day, and waited. Tears began streaming down her face in laughter as she saw what one group had done to Severus.

While it was still obviously Severus, he looked definitely different. For one thing, large tufts of pink hair were growing at an alarming rate out of his nose and his greasy hair was red and gold, styled in an afro. For another, he had a set of rather large breasts. However, he seemed oblivious to his predicament, and merely glared at everyone staring and laughing at him, his afro shaking alarmingly.

"Which…of you….did…that?" she sputtered between fits of laughter.

"Remus and I," Peter replied with a smirk on his face.

Lucius came in after Severus, looking slightly worse for the wear, with no doubts why. His entire body sparkled red and green, and every three seconds he puked up a slug, which left a revolting-looking trail of slime in his Father Christmas-like beard, which was colored to match his sparkly green and red body. Hermione giggled, remembering Ron's experience with something similar.

"You haven't seen anything yet; wait till we get to the teachers" Sirius replied with a chortle.

At that moment, Professor McGonagall came in.

It was obvious this was a prank that Sirius had thought up and executed. McGonagall's robes flashed in pink letters "I love Sirius" and "Sirius is so sexy". Hermione slammed her head down into the table to stop McGonagall from seeing her laughing at something she was taking so seriously. She beckoned Sirius to her. He willingly complied, winking at her as he walked towards her, dragging James along with him. She grabbed them by the ears and dragged them out of the great hall, but not before Sirius yelled for the whole school to hear, "Minerva, I never knew you felt that way! Let's get some alone time, shall we love? I can't wait to see what your underwear says!"

"Aye, if you think that's something, lassy, just wait till yeh see what we did!" Peter said in a pirate like voice. It was rather obvious why, because at the moment Dumbledore sat down in his seat, it turned into a ship and began floating around the great hall. "That isn't really the prank, that comes next" Remus explained. The ship lifted Dumbledore up gracefully, and began circling the Great Hall, dumping rather large amounts of what appeared to be dynamite everywhere. "Duck and cover!" yelled Peter with a huge grin on his face. Hermione just had time to dive under the table when the dynamite exploded. But, it wasn't dynamite. Instead, they were vials filled with what Hermione knew to be some of the most dangerous creatures known to mankind in them...that's right. Cornish Pixies. When the vials, "exploded", they had actually released the deadly creatures upon the school.

The ship set a calm looking Dumbledore back down and transformed back into a chair with a small pop. The entire school suddenly went deadly silent, though the Pixies had already managed to suspend five people from the ceiling and knocked out seven others. But Dumbledore did not scream, yell, or even reprimand them. Instead, he merely pointed a finger at Sirius and Remus and said, "I'll be needing a word with you two."


	5. Her Secret

**Disclaimer: **I would love to own Harry Potter, but I feel that would be optimistic to the point of foolishness.

**Authors Note: **REJOYCE! For today, we fully understand the nature of the time travel of Hermione Granger.

The winners of the Prank-Off were Remus and Peter, who had earned detentions until the end of the year. Sirius and James were following close behind by a month, so they didn't lose by much.

"How did Dumbledore know who it was, though?" Hermione asked incredulously of a chuckling Remus.

"Well, he knows that the first day of the year is always the day of the Annual Prank-Off. In his heart, he doesn't really mind, but he does have to punish us. He knows that whoever gets the most detentions wins, so in a way, he's kind of like the judge." Remus responded with a sentimental look of fondness for the insane old coot.

"How do you know he doesn't mind? You knocked out seven people and five others were on the ceiling?" Hermione replied with a look of disbelief on her face.

"He complimented us on a job well done, and said this was our best year yet. Also, after all the other teachers were gone he gave us each 20 points to Gryffindor" Remus grinned slyly.

"Oh…"

Hermione picked up the Daily Prophet, and read with tears in her eyes. There had been an attack by Voldemort on her hometown. She scanned carefully through the listings of people dead and injured. She read it through twice, but didn't see her parent's or grandparent's names on the hauntingly long list. Relief flooded through her, but she couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face.

"Are you alright, Hermione?" Remus asked with concern in his voice.

"I'…I'm fine," Hermione replied, wiping away the small droplets from her glistening cheeks, "Attack on my hometown. My family survived, thank God, but my town is destroyed." She felt kind of silly as she found herself crying on his shoulder. _Nothing happened to your family and your town will be rebuilt. You are going to be born there in a couple of years, Remember? If anything happened to your family, then you wouldn't be born, so you don't have to worry. _She argued to herself _But what if something DOES happen to your family, because you don't do anything about it!_ _He's gaining strength. You need to do something to stop it! _Her other half replied. "Sorry. I know they'll rebuild it, but it shocked me."

Dumbledore came up behind them. "Miss Granger, are you alright?" he said seriously. "I'm fine professor. Attack by Voldemort on my hometown, kind of shocked me." She replied, still mopping her face. "I see," He replied. "Would you come with me for a moment?" It wasn't a question as much as a suggestion. She complied, and walked with him silently to his office, taking a seat in the large squishy chair in front of his desk.

"I have been researching your unusual predicament. I have found out some rather important information.

"In times where it is so obvious that something is not right in the world, your own magic will set to work. This sends you to the past,occasionally to different locations or to the future. It is something that Merlin himself didn't quite understand.

"But in his studies of the fragile sands of time, he did discover a piece of information that has proved consistent in rare cases like your own. It takes more than the need to fix past mistakes to alter time like you have done. A person can get over a death, or even many if they are strong willed, and not contemplate it or simply decide to forget it. Merlin said in his case studies, it was almost always a death that caused a person to go back, in conjunction with the deep emotional stress that you have to endure during that time.

"My guess is that you were not only sent back to fix fate's deadly mistakes, but also because of depression or anguish. A feeling of emptiness, if you will. If your time can't offer condolence or satisfy your needs, then perhaps another time can. I believe that may have been the case with you. Am I hitting the nail square on the head or am I off?" He finished with a questioning look. Hermione simply nodded as Remus' face floated to the top of her mind.

"I have a question, Dumbledore. Erm…how did you know my name the first day I was here? I don't remember telling you." She asked quietly.

"Legilimency. Normally, I could not get something as strong as your name, normally I'd get just a sense of whether you were lying or not, and your basic emotions. But you were so confused; you were quite easy to read. I am assuming you know what Legilimency means." He replied.

Dumbledore looked at her inquisitively, as if asking for something more from her. A sudden idea popped into her head, and as she mulled it over silently for several seconds she decided it would be for the best to tell him.

She cleared her throat. "Dumbledore, sir, have you started the Order of the Phoenix yet?" she inquired. Dumbledore looked bewildered and shook his head.

"The reason I ask is that the Dark wizard, Voldemort, is currently rising to power. In the future, you start an organization called the Order of the Phoenix, which devotes their funds, efforts, and often lives to fighting Voldemort. No offense to you, but I believe you started a tad too late. I suggest you recruit members now, before Voldemort's power is absolute and his network is as vast as it is in my time. I'd advise you to start with the Potters and Alastor Moody. Be sure to get the giants and other magical creatures on your side; they play a key role in his army in my time. You can save many innocent lives if you start the Order up as soon as possible."

Dumbledore did not seem fazed in the slightest by this information. Instead, he merely nodded and said in a gracious tone of voice, "Thank you, Ms. Granger, I'll get right on that."

Hermione nodded and left the tower, wondering how the wizened old wizard who had been sitting in front of her could take such things in stride.

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Hermione was glad to find Remus at the bottom of the stairs. He mumbled with a rather embarrassed look on his face, "I just wanted to make sure you were ok."

Hermione hugged him and said, "I'm fine. It's nice that you would wait for me like that." She couldn't help but notice how nicely toned his muscles were through his old shirt. They walked back to the dormitory, where they found James and Sirius playing wizarding chess, and Peter watching the game with an interested look on his face. Instead of the usual leap of joy that accompanied the sight of the wonderful people before her, all she could feel was a lump in her throat. Rather than laughing at the possibilities of the next stupid thing Sirius would say, she found herself wondering whether they would die despite the fact that she knew quite a bit about the future and how she would try to fix it so they would live.

Over the next few weeks, Hermione took to being very quiet and spending hours in the library. Sleep abandoned her, because every moment of the day and night she spent thinking about whether she had altered the future positively or negatively, even by little things like saying hello to Moaning Myrtle, or giving Peter a piece of her chocolate.

_I wonder why this has come on now, though. _She contemplated one night. _I mean, for the first couple of weeks, I was just happy to see them alive, and happy and carefree, especially Peter. Now all I do is worry._

She figured that it must just be the realization that things were not the same in her time, and that it had just sunk in that there was a huge weight on her shoulder to save the people that she loved, and the people that Harry never got to love.

Remus was starting to worry about her. She had bags under her eyes as though she never slept, and was spending hours in the library and the Girl's Dormitory. She also seemed worried, and her temper flared up at the slightest provocation.

Finally, Remus decided that he had to talk to her about it. She looked like she was about to die, and Remus couldn't bear seeing her like that. _Yeah, and you're hoping you get asked out for being the sensitive, caring type!_

_That is not what this is about. This is about actually **being **sensitive and caring. This is about-_

_Shut up, brain!_

He caught her coming out of the library one Friday. "Hermione, we need to talk. Come with me." He took her up to the hallway where the Room of Requirement was, did the whole routine that the door required, and opened up the door to a room with a couch and a fireplace. He figured they would be comfortable there.

"Hermione, you haven't been sleeping, you barely eat, and you just came out of a three hour library binge. Are you okay?" He asked gently.

"Yes, I'm fine," She snapped with an edge to her voice.

"Hermione, you obviously aren't. Please tell me what's wrong," he said seriously.

"I can't tell you," she said desperately, "I just can't."

"Please. It can't be that bad." He replied.

"'It can't be that bad'?" she screeched "It can TOO be that bad! Do you have any idea just how bad it can be"

"erm-" Remus started.

"I'm not a transfer student, Remus. I'm from the future. Trust me Remus, it is that bad."

He looked at her, and uncertainly said, "Are you ok?"

"NO I'm not ok. Do you know what it's like, looking at your best friend's father every day, looking at his godfather every day, looking at a professor you once had every day and knowing exactly what's in store for them?" She shrieked in an oddly high pitched voice.

"Whatever it is, it can't be bad enough to work yourself up over" he tried to console her.

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA! Do you understand what I see every day? Do you know what happens in the future? You look happy right now. You aren't worn out. The lycanthropy hasn't caught up to you just yet, has it? You live through hell! You lose your best friends in a period of 24 hours. James, Lily, Sirius, they are all DEAD! There isn't a light in your eyes in the future, Remus! You get a brief reminder of James in his son's third year, and you perk up a bit. You find out that Sirius has been jailed for a crime he didn't commit, chained up in Azkaban for 12 years until he figured out a way to escape, and your world looks up a bit until he dies two years after that. And I get sent back, to either fix it or watch it happen all over again. Do you know the pressure, knowing you hold the lives of so many in your hands? Knowing that if you slip up just a little something horrible will happen, or you'll watch history repeat itself? James has a son in the future, named Harry, who is my best friend. James never sees Harry to two years old. Every time I look at you all, the famous Marauders, I can't help but remember the suffering Harry, our friends, and I have to go through every day, and that I have to fix it!" she finished, and she broke out in broken sobs, tears streaming down her face.

Remus pulled her into a slightly awkward hug, patting her on the back. She threw her arms around him and bawled into his shoulder. _She has been bottling this up for ages; she just needs to let it out_. That was Remus logic. When he noticed that she had quieted down a bit, he sat her up a bit and picked up her head with his hand.

"Hermione, I promise that even if the worst happens and the entire world is wiped out, I will not blame you for a second. That is entirely too much pressure to have placed on you. And don't worry, you still get several more years of Sirius, James, Peter, and I with our dashing good looks and charm," he joked, hoping to lighten her mood a bit, "Now look at me." She looked up slowly. "Anything that happens to us is not your fault. Please come be our friends again, or at least spend more than five minutes with us, Sirius has been pining for you." She nodded, teardrops still pouring down her face.

She threw her arms around him again, burying her face in his shoulder again, still crying. "I'm so sorry. I probably shouldn't have told you your future. I felt like I was going to explode. And I'm sorry for sitting here crying like an idiot on your shoulder. I feel so stupid." She sat up and smiled. "Thank you for listening. Can you promise me you won't tell any of that to Sirius, James, Lily, or Peter? I don't want to tell them just yet, I'm not ready to tell them yet."

Remus nodded, and Hermione slid back into her own seat.

They sat in silence for several moments, before Hermione spoke again.

"You know that potion you got as a Secret Santa gift?" Remus nodded. "Well that was from me. Well it won't be invented for twenty more years, so I did it from memory. Did it work?

Remus smiled, and replied, "Wonderfully. I didn't have any bruises or broken bones or anything."

Again, a comfortable quiet settled over them,

Hermione smiled as she thought of Harry again. "You know the Marauders Map?" Hermione asked. Remus smiled and nodded. "Well, Harry, James' son gets it, along with the Invisibility Cloak, in the future that is. You're very proud of him. He reminds you so much of James. They're the spitting images of each other, you know?"

They again sat in silence, Remus soaking in all that had been told to him. Mainly, that she knew he was a werewolf but didn't hate him. He never immagined that he would ever find anyone aside from the Marauders that would accept him like that.

_SEE! You're a perfect match! she doesn't mind that you're a werewolf, and you KNOW you like her!_

_She has just confided possibly her biggest secret in you, and all you can think about is asking her out!_

_But maybe she could use some comfort, if you know what I mean-_

_SHUT UP BRAIN!_

Remus quickly stood up. "Here, let's get you back to the common room. Are you ready to go?" She stood up and nodded. When they got to the common room, they noticed it was empty. "They must be at dinner," Remus mused more to himself than Hermione. "Want to head down?" he asked her. She shook her head.

Once again, she threw her arms around him in a tight hug. She stepped back and said, "Thank you for being such a good friend." She threw her arms around him again just as the other Marauders walked in, and as per usual, began whistling.

"Oooh…Remus is getting LUCK-AY tonight" Sirius shouted. Remus and Hermione both jumped back, and at the same time both yelled, "NO Remus is NOT getting LUCK-AY tonight!" and then burst out laughing, as did the rest of the Marauders.

"Glad to see you're back to your normal self," Peter squeaked to Hermione as they quieted down.

"Yeah, me too." She replied, as the boys had to immediately turn around to go to their next detention with Professor McGonagall: catching Cornish pixies which the last class of the day had apparently set loose day after day for a month and a half. Sirius often voiced the sneaking suspicion that McGonagall was just angry and set them lose day after day due to the fact she wanted to torture them because she couldn't admit her undying love for him.

**Co-Author's Note:** It is quite literally all my fault that this chapter is so late. I'm really, truly sorry, but it has been quite hectic at school for the past few days, I hope you can forgive me.

Earth-Wind-Fire-Ice


	6. Valentines Day

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing

**Authors note: **This is the LAST chapter before the New Year! Enjoy it!

It was drawing near to Valentines Day. Remus and Hermione were feeling increasingly apprehensive. Neither one could admit nor deny their obviously growing attraction for one another.

_Come on, you KNOW you like her and it is SOOO obvious that she likes you! _One half of Remus' brain quarreled.

_But what if she DOESN'T and all those so called 'moments' are all in your own imagination? _The other half retorted.

_You CANNOT rationalize that she doesn't like you. Those 'moments' are undeniably existent. I mean, the "exploding snake" incident, all the hugs she gives you, the secrets she's told you…and you have to admit those fantasies you have are pretty TASTY-_

_SHUT UP BRAIN!_

After arguing with himself for quite some time, frightening some first years when he started yelling at himself aloud (the older students were quite used to it by now), he decided to get her an especially extravagant gift. _But what? _He pondered to himself. He remembered something he'd heard one time. '_Take her shopping and buy her the thing she spends the most time looking at' _Said a voice in his head that sounded oddly like Sirius. It seemed like sound advice, and with this in mind, he organized a secret marauder trip with Hermione to Hogsmeade, as the normal February one was actually ON Valentines Day.

When they got there, Sirius immediately ran off to the Hogs Head, telling them to meet up with him later. James, Peter, Remus, and Hermione headed into a small jewelry shop on the edge of town. James wanted help looking for a gift for Lily.

While they were there, Remus watched Hermione drool for fifteen minutes over a necklace. To be fair, it was definitely drool-worthy. It was a medium-thick gold chain, with two White-Gold rose stems with miniature ruby roses placed on the stems, meeting in the middle around a perfectly oval ruby. It was exquisite to say the least.

After much antagonizing on the part of James, he picked up a pair of glass lily-flower earrings and they departed.

Remus doubled back, saying he'd left his wallet. He hurried in and pointed at the necklace. "How much is it?" he asked the shopkeeper. "30 galleons" was the reply he got. He did an inner grimace. _Good lord, THIRTY GALLEONS! That is BLOODY EXPENSIVE! But it's worth it. _He steeled himself and counted his money. He had it…barely. "I'll take it" he told the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper seemed slightly shocked that Remus could afford it (which is justified, because his robes were old and tattered), but took it out and wrapped it. "Must be a very special lady that you're buying this for." he said. Remus nodded. "Tell you what; I'll give this to you half price. I've been there before, and, no offence, but I can tell you can't really afford this." Remus stammered his thanks repeatedly, and left, concealing the magnificent gift under his robes.

Valentines Day was swiftly upon them. Remus was growing more and more nervous.

Hermione had gotten everyone gifts. As usual, Sirius and James received some alcohol. Peter got a box of chocolates.

For Remus, she had gotten a superb jeweled, moving model of the solar system. Each planet was a different semi-precious stone. The sun was a ball of fire contained by a large glass ball.

The stars were made of glass, and Hermione explained that if he wanted to view a particular constellation, all he had to do is say it aloud and the stars making up the constellation would brighten and glow a brilliant blue. She obviously put a lot of thought into the gift and Remus was positively speechless.

After he had thanked her about a million times, he pulled out his gift for her.

"Oh, you didn't have to get me anything," she said flushing.

"But I did anyway," he replied, handing her the beautifully wrapped necklace.

Hermione began to pull away the wrapping paper teasingly slowly. The necklace fell gently into her lap as she tore away the last piece of spellotape.

Her mouth fell open as she picked it up, carefully examining it in detail. She set it down wordlessly on the common room table and enveloped him in a large hug, whispering breathlessly in his ear "thank you".

_YES!_ He thought triumphantly to himself.

After a few seconds of this hug, she pulled away.

"You," she said smiling, "are the best friend I could have hoped for."

_DAMMIT! _Remus thought dejectedly to himself.

"You too, 'Mione. Wanna meet the marauders for breakfast?"

She nodded, and they walked out, Hermione fastened the necklace over her robes. True, she did feel rather silly wearing such a stunning necklace with normal day robes, but she couldn't resist showing it off.

After several minutes of breakfast the post came.

Lily got a mix of hate mail (mainly from girls jealous of her position as James' girlfriend) and secret admirer cards. James got mainly letters from crazed girls, urging him to break up with Lily.

After several minutes of Laughter over the psychotic letters they were getting, mingled with statements of surprise that James and Lily were that popular (mainly from Hermione), Dumbledore came up to Sirius to inform him that he had so much Valentine mail that it had been delivered to the dormitory, as it would've caused disarray at the table. "That's a very pretty necklace, Ms. Granger." Dumbledore said as Sirius departed to go read his mail. Hermione blushed and said "Thanks. Remus got it for me." He looked at the both of them, is eyes twinkling more than usual, a small smile playing across his face. Hermione could've sworn she saw Dumbledore wink at Remus as he walked off.

Remus' mail started arriving soon after. Hermione got a strange feeling in her stomach as she watched him open his valentines, smiling and laughing. Was it…jealousy?

He immediately began laughing as he read a letter aloud to Hermione. "Dear Remus," he read, breaking into sniggers, "Break up with that Hermione slut and snog me senseless during lunch-xoxo" Hermione giggled. _Ha. That's really funny…me and Remus…a couple…why doesn't that sound so bad? DAMMIT HERMIONE!_

"I'm so shattered." she said dryly with a smile.

At about that time, Hermione's mail started coming.

It was incredibly obvious that the Slytherin's had planned this, as she got about 25 letters on green paper, with messages such as "LET ME HAVE MY WAY WITH YOU MUDBLOOD" and "NOBODY WANT'S YOU DIRTY SLUT!"

She instantaneously began to burn them, feeling slightly upset.

Not all of the letters were bad. Remus was absolutely green with envy when he saw his competition.

He perked up after he saw her throw away all the letters muttering under her breath something that sounded like "useless tossers"

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday. Even professor McGonagall had decided to let her hair down….literally. A lot of the girlier girls crowded around her, begging to play with it (surprisingly McGonagall let them). After they were thoroughly done (and a good job they did) Sirius started whistling, walked over, got down on bended knee in front of her, and was immediately greeted with minus 25 points from Gryffindor and another month's detention.

**Authors note:** Notice that I didn't leave a huge cliffie or anything! I'll see you all in 2006! Thank you to all of my reviewers!


	7. the fifth marauder

**Disclaimer:** pick which one is TRUE: a-I got a laptop as an early Christmas present from dad b-there are small animals called gnargles that live in mistletoe c-I own the Harry potter characters

CORRECT ANSWER: A

**Authors Note:** I know I said that chapter 6 was the last chapter before the new year…well, that was before I went to my dad's house…and we opened our early Christmas presents….I GOT A LAPTOP! Now I can continue writing, although I'll admit that once I get to Florida it'll be kind of hard for me to update, as I will be mingling with relatives, and I'm not sure about the internet connection there.

**Co-Authors Note:** Guess what? I got a laptop, too! Anyway, I apologize if the last chapter wasn't edited properly, but I was extremely busy and couldn't do it. Knowing my dear sister's atrocious grammar skills, it was probably riddled with errors.

Life was semi-normal for the Marauders and Hermione. Well, as normal as the months before the OWL's could be. Despite this, the Marauders kept up their cheerful demeanor.

Hermione was beginning to understand how James dealt with pressure: more pranking.

Hermione also was beginning to notice that the Marauders in general dealt with pressure in the same way.

Perhaps her imagination was deceiving her, but she noticed that the Marauders were including her in these pre-OWL pranks more and more. They looked to Hermione to supply them with great pranking ideas, and Hermione always came through. She amazed herself with some of the pranks she had come up with and helped carry out. However, to the dismay of the Marauders, she put her foot down when it came to pranking Snape, or,"Snivellus," as the Marauders called him.

Their latest scheme was something that they could only do with the help of Hermione. As usual, it either involved Slytherin's or a teacher. This prank's subject, however, was a teacher. Not just any teacher. McGonagall.

The Marauders, at the suggestion of Hermione, had set up camp in Myrtle's bathroom. Huddled around a cauldron, they were currently immersed in the brewing of a potion most deadly.

"Okay, what color is it supposed to be now?" Sirius asked.

"It's supposed to be a nice lavender color…which it is…and now for the beetle's eyes. There we go! We let it stew for seven minutes, and then it'll be the perfect pink color that this particular kind of Amortentia is supposed to be. After that, we add your hair, and it's done!" Hermione said with a look of extreme concentration on her face.

She reached over to Sirius and pulled some of his silky hair out, much to Sirius' displeasure and added it. It bubbled and she poured it into a beaker.

They snuck back to the common room, listening to the grandfather clock strike midnight, sniggering at their success.

They brought the potion down to the breakfast table in the morning, before anyone else had gotten there. They snuck over to where McGonagall normally sat, pulling out the beaker of the love potion and gently pouring some of it into her goblet. They then sat down at their seats, laughing delightedly when McGonagall came in shortly after students started pouring in. She sat at her spot and took a sip from her goblet. For a second, she seemed slightly dazed. She immediately turned to Dumbledore, and said something that the Marauders couldn't hear. He seemed slightly worried, but just shook his head.

The Marauders got up and walked past the teachers table. Immediately, Sirius was tackled by McGonagall and pulled, protesting all the way, into a deep kiss. Since the entire student body was there by this time, the effect was quite as good as the marauders had hoped for. Dumbledore looked shocked. Sirius pulled away and said seductively, "Whoa, Minnie, perhaps we should talk a bit first. I'm not sure I'm ready for such a serious (CAN: Ha) relationship."

She immediately kissed him again. At this point Sirius was quite nervous, and laughing could be heard more than audibly from the house tables. Several people were whistling, and even more people had made money off of it in bets.

Dumbledore came over, tears running down his face in laughter. He paused in his laughter for a moment to tell them that 'Minnie' was obviously sick with something and that they should take her to the hospital wing. Sirius did not hear this message as he was too busy, what with being attatched to the lips with McGonagall and all.

It was slightly disturbing that no one could tell whether Sirius was hating this or enjoying it. Either way, every time he tried to pull away from McGonagall's lips, McGonagall went in for more. They tried several means of getting her to stop. They didn't think that the headmaster would take too kindly to stunning a professor, so they gave her the body bind curse and levitated her. Sirius had a dazed look on his face, his hair ruffled. He stood up on the teachers table and took a bow which was greeted by much applause. They then left.

"Sirius, did you actually ENJOY that?" asked James with a disgusted look on his face.

"WHAT!" Sirius said, absentmindedly touching his lips, "NO! Of course not…that would be weird…no, I don't like Minnie-I MEAN MCGONAGALL- like that at all, no…"

"Methinks thou doth protest a bit much." Hermione said with a laugh.

_OH MY GOD! What have I done? I just pranked a TEACHER! Ohhh I am in so much trouble! What has gotten into me? I mean, Slytherin's are just Slytherin's but a TEACHER! Oh no oh no oh NO!_

"Hermione," she was pulled out of her inner panic by a pair of hands wrapped around her in a bear hug, "Quit hyperventilating. You're scaring Peter." Ahh. It was Remus. She pulled herself out of the hug rather quickly, blushing.

"We're here." Said James, levitating McGonagall onto a bed.

"Madam Pom-Pom's," Sirius called, "Minnie here has gone mad, and she's just spent the past half hour snogging me senseless…the madness of it is quite….er, mad!"

Madam Pomfrey scurried over. "SIRIUS BLACK! I do NOT need to hear about your disgusting fantasies about Minerva! I have told you once, I've told you a thousand times, GET COUNSELLING! Why is it that every time you're here you feel the need to tell me about how much you love 'Minnie' and you always have messages for me to pass onto 'Minnie' and how 'Minnie' never returns your affections. OH FOR GOODNESS SAKES GET MINNIE-I mean get Minerva out of the body bind."

Sirius was immediately greeted by odd looks and began blushing horribly. James took the body bind curse off of McGonagall, who immediately jumped on Sirius and began snogging him senseless as Sirius had described to 'Madam Pom-Pom's'. Madam Pomfrey gasped and started laughing immediately. James body bound McGonagall again, and levitated her back to the bed.

"Looks like a love potion gone wrong. Let me go get an antidote." She bustled off, searching through the bottles. James instantly began to tease Sirius. "So…any new fantasies about Minnie?" Sirius greeted this question with a slap to the back of the head.

"Hermioneeeee! That potion is REALLY strong? It said in the book that is was a light-strength potion? Can you explain this to me PLEASSSSE!"

Hermione thought about it for a moment. She mentally read over the page.

"Sirius…it did say that the potion's strength also depends on the amount of attraction between the hair-giver and the drinker…what have you and Professor McGonagall been doing, Sirius?" said Hermione with a grin, wiggling her eyebrows.

Sirius fainted.

Dumbledore declined to punish them, saying that it was the best laugh he'd had in a while and that they'd probably be getting plenty of punishment from 'Minnie'. He left the Hospital wing. After Sirius woke up, the Marauders followed suit. 'Minnie' had been given a dreamless sleep potion by Madam Pomfrey and was staying the night in the hospital wing, so the Marauders were safe from her anger for at least a couple hours.

When they got to the common room, they found that it was almost empty. They elected to skip class, persuading Hermione only by promising that they'd study for at least an hour.

After they'd decided to stay, James got straight down to business.

"Hermione, you've been here for a few months. We've been watching you carefully for the past few weeks. You have ingenuity, intelligence, and originality when it comes to prank planning and actually carrying out a prank. You have very high marks in important areas like charms, transfiguration, and potions. It was requested by Moony, and unanimously agreed upon that you are to be a Marauder."

Hermione laughed. "Where'd you learn all of those big words?" She didn't actually believe he was being serious

James replied seriously, "Moony taught me. So what do you say? I wasn't kidding, if that's what you're thinking. We are being genuine; you should be the fifth Marauder. We need your skill!"

Hermione fell silent, thoughts coursing through her mind.

_Hermione Granger, the fifth Marauder? Wow…Harry'll be so pleased to find out…if I ever get to tell him. Oh, Hermione, quit being depressing! This is an opportunity of a lifetime!_

Hermione smiled and squeaked "OF COURSE" before hopping up and down slightly, obviously very excited.

"I guess that since you've officially accepted there are some things about us we should fill you in on, especially our nicknames you see-"

Hermione cut him short, recognizing this as the right time, if any, to tell them about her time-travel predicament.

"James," she interrupted, "There's something I have to tell you also. I already know. You have nicknames: Prongs the stag, Padfoot the dog, Wormtail the rat, and Moony the werewolf. You have the Marauders' Map, the password to which is, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good', to open and, 'Mischief managed', to close. James, of course, has his invisibility cloak." She finished, observing the shocked expressions of James, Sirius, and Peter.

"How do you know all that?" James asked in disbelief.

"Well…you see I'm not really a transfer student. I'm…I'm from the future." She waited for the laughter to start. She didn't expect them to believe her, so she was surprised when she heard Sirius going, "Go on, go on"

"I don't really think I should tell you too much about your futures. I'll have to explain a little to get what happened to send me hear, according to Dumbledore."

They nodded expectantly.

"Well, in the future, I'm James' son's best friends. His name is Harry. But James and Harry's mother are…are…" She stopped, unable to go on.

"What happens, Hermione?" Sirius asked kindly.

"James and Harry's mother are…they're dead." Hermione looked down sadly

"What? What happens?" James inquired quietly, leaning closer to Hermione.

"Well, that's one of the things I'm trying to stop. I'm really afraid if I tell you then something else will happen. I can tell you it is because of a prophecy, your son told me that much. I promise, I'll do whatever I can to stop it."

"Well, at least he'll have a good place to live! I'll definitely take your son in!" Sirius said, trying to brighten the mood. Hermione looked down, saddening. "What? You mean he doesn't come to live with me?" Hermione shook her head.

"Sirius…you're in prison. You go to prison about 24 hours after James dies. You are sentenced to life in prison."

They all looked at him, backing away from him, looking disgusted. Sirius looked horrified at himself.

Hermione immediately realized that vital information had been left out.

"Don't worry, you're innocent. You get framed. That is something that probably won't happen in you if James lives."

"Good god, is there any good things that happen in our life?" Sirius asked

"You break out of prison in Harry's third year. You get to meet him. You are kind of a replacement father to him. He asked you for advice all the time in the future. Of course, no one could really replace James"

Sirius smiled.

"Then you die two years after breaking out of prison."

Sirius' smile fell.

"Then the year after that, Dumbledore is killed."

They all looked on the verge of tears.

"And now I'm here. Trying to keep you all alive. James, you'd be really proud of your son. He inherits the marauders map and the invisibility cloak. He defeats Voldemort 5 times I believe. If you count killing Voldemort's memory, which he cleverly concealed in a diary."

James' mouth fell open "FIVE TIMES! Good lord, I'd be lucky to defeat him ONCE! Why wasn't once enough, anyway?"

"It's complicated. On Halloween after Harry's first birthday, Voldemort himself comes to try and kill him. His mother tries to protect him, begging him to spare her son, telling him to take her instead. She dies anyway, and then he turns to Harry. He tries the killing curse. But, Harry survives! Voldemort is only half dead though: his body is destroyed but his spirit survived. He possessed a teacher in Harry's first year. His diary opens the chamber of secrets in Harry's second year-"

"But the chamber of secrets is just a legend!" Remus interrupted.

"No, it isn't. Haven't you ever asked Moaning Myrtle how she died? The Basilisk that lives in the Chamber of Secrets killed her. It was set on her by Voldemort. If the spirit moves you, I'll show you. Anyway, in Harry's fourth year, they held the Triwizard Tournament. A servant of Voldemort fixes the tournament so that Harry gets in and touches the trophy first. Harry faced him in a graveyard, where Harry faces Voldemort. Voldemort comes back to power. In fifth year, Voldemort uses the connection he has with Harry to make him think that Sirius is in trouble. When Harry goes to the Ministry to save Sirius… He is met by Voldemort. Sirius comes to help Harry, along with an anti-Voldemort force called the Order of the Phoenix. Sirius is killed in the Ministry. In sixth year, Dumbledore is murdered. In seventh year, I was sent here. You should be really proud of him. He's been through so much. Or he goes through so much. Verb tenses are kind of confusing."

Sirius looked down. James looked like he was about to cry.

"Where are Peter and Remus in all this?" Sirius asked.

"Remus is part of the Order. He is Harry's professor in 3rd year. He quits after that, because everyone finds out about his ummm…furry little problem."

James laughed at Hermione's use of his nickname for Remus' Lycanthropy, and said "And Peter?"

Hermione didn't want to lie. But Peter was there, and she was afraid that the other Marauders would treat him differently if they knew.

"I have no idea what happened to him. I never found out. He wasn't seen at all after James died." Hermione falsified easily, feeling guilty.

_It's for the best, Hermione. You have to fix him, so that he doesn't go and do it again. He's just misguided._

The Marauders were silent for a long time.

James eventually leaned forward to Hermione and said. "Thank you for telling us this. We're glad to have you as a Marauder."

LATER THAT MONTH…

The OWL's were a week away. Hermione spent every waking hour studying, and trying to convince Sirius and James to study. She spent a lot of time helping Peter study, finding that flash cards worked splendidly well.

The night before their first OWL, Sirius wanted to go out drinking, as per ususal. "c'mon 'Mione! It'll help me do better on my OWL!" he whined.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Hermione thundered

"Yes, Mrs. Potter…or should I say Mrs. Lupin…" He replied with a sly grin.

"DAMMIT SIRIUS! Or should I say, 'Minnie's future husband'"

"I thought we agreed not to mention that." He glowered

"Yes, Sirius, but if you and the other Marauders go out drinking tonight, or on any night that there are ANY OWL's the next day, you will NOT here the end of it. Do you understand me?"

"Ok, ok! I get it I get it!" He scowled at her. "But can we go to the kitchen? I am SOOO hungry?"

Hermione sighed and agreed, grabbing Remus and the other Marauders on the way down. They had a good time in the kitchens, Hermione having to remind them that they had the defense against the dark arts OWL the next day, dragging Sirius and James up to the common room with much protesting.

---------------------TIME PASSES--------------------

"This was your last OWL test, and I would like to congratulate you for completing this rigorous testing. You will receive your results in about a month. You may have the next week as free time." The crowd of fifth years cheered with McGonagall's last words, and the mass of students moved out of the hall slowly.

"I never got to ask you about what you all wanted to be when you got out of school. Sooo…what do you wanna be when you get out of school?" Hermione asked.

"Auror"

"Auror"

"Auror"

"Prostitute"

Everyone stared at Sirius.

"Just kidding. Auror"

"What do you want to be when you get out of school, Hermione?" Remus inquired smiling.

"I guess I don't really have a choice if I wanna stay with my four best friends! I want to try to be an auror, too!" Hermione replied, giving a small skip.

"Do you have a place to stay during the summer?" Sirius asked.

Hermione shook her head sadly.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"What do you mean, you don't have a place to stay? You aren't going to stay here, you can't, believe me, I've tried!" Sirius said worriedly.

_ASK HER TO COME STAY WITH YOU, REMUS! Just say "Hermione, you can come stay with me"_

Remus gulped.

"H-Hermione…would y-you like to come stay with m-me?" He stammered, blushing slightly.

Hermione took no notice to the stammering and blushing, paying attention only to the question.

"Oh, are you serious?" she squealed.

"No, I am!" said Sirius.

The Marauders looked at him.

"Alright, future Minnie's husband" Said James coolly.

Sirius scowled.

"Absolutely. Just let me owl my parents to ask first, but I am pretty sure they won't object. They always like to know I have friends." Remus said happily.

"Speaking of which, my parents wanted to know if you all could come up. For the week before school starts. We'd be glad to take you up to kings cross on the first. I thought it would be fun to have all of you up. It'll be one big partayyyy!" James asked.

Of course, Remus, Peter, and Hermione jumped at this opportunity.

They ran into professor McGonagall down the hallway, where James decided to make the stupid comment "hello, Mrs. Black" which was greeted with a smack to the back of the head, as there were no more detentions to give to them, and no more points to take off of Gryffindor.

**Authors Note:** CONCo-Authors Note. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	8. Summer Lovin'

**Disclaimer:** All is fair in love and war. Naught is fair when it comes to the Harry Potter rights which I don't have.

**Author's Note:** I really like the way that this fanfic is going! I have to say, my main problem has been the Remus/Hermione tension and trying to find their own personal loopholes as to why they can't be with each other…it is really proving problematic. I am sure I can fix that with this chapter though. Shout out to Kate, one of my best friends. If you have suggestions, anyone, please click the submit review button. I can't fix it if you don't bring it to my attention!

**Co-Author's Note:** Hello, faithful readers. I have a request for you loving readers. I REALLY want you guys to review, okay? PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help us get our review count up! I know I look at how many reviews a story has when I get to the HP main page. It draws people in, and factors into how people perceive a story. So please, guys, even if it's only one sentence, give us a review.

Hermione felt very nervous getting off of the train at platform 9 ¾. She immediately recognized Remus' parents, who were waving him over. Mr. Lupin was the spitting image of Hermione's Professor Lupin in later years. Mrs. Lupin was had a slight figure, and her light brown hair was scattered with flecks of grey.

"Mom, this is Hermione Granger. She's a transfer student from Beuxbaton." Remus said blushing almost abashedly.

Hermione shook hands with Mrs. Lupin and Mr. Lupin, thanking them for letting her stay for the summer.

"So, this is the girl we've heard so much about?" said Mr. Lupin chuckling. "Remus owls us about you all the time." Remus had now turned five shades of red and was carefully avoiding Hermione's eyes.

"Now, dear." scolded Mrs. Lupin. "Don't embarrass him! It's so nice to meet you, dear." She said, turning to Hermione. "Come on, let's catch a cab. It's getting late, and we have a nice dinner planned!" Mr. Lupin grabbed the bags, and they all headed out to the front of the station.

_Oh my God, oh my God. He TALKS about ME to his PARENTS! _Hermione had a grin on her face the rest of the night from that thought.

Settling into the somewhat cramped yellow taxi, they all began to chat as it carried them out of the bustling center of muggle London.

"So, where do you all live?" Hermione asked politely.

"We live in the country, on a small remodeled farm. It's not very fancy, but we've fixed it up pretty nicely, and it has a spectacular view. Where is your house in France?" Mr. Lupin replied.

"Paris," Hermione said, thankful that she'd actually been there, "It's lovely there, although I like England as well."

They made small talk until the taxi pulled up to the front of a large farmhouse. She smiled, remembering the Weasley's old farmhouse with lots of chickens running around and the disgruntled garden gnomes.

"Remus, show Hermione to her room. Then we'll have some supper; it's getting quite late," Mrs. Lupin said, ushering them through the door.

"Here, let me get your trunk, and we'll take it up to your room." Remus said, dragging along Hermione's trunk. He led her up to a room with a heavy oak door. The furnishings were sparse, but it felt very much like home. Hermione was surprised to see a small television in her room. She had always assumed Remus was a pureblood, as he talked often of his upbringing in the wizarding world.

They headed down to the kitchen to find Mrs. Lupin serving up large bowls of onion soup. Dinner was absolutely delicious, and dessert was a fabulous lemon torte. After diner, they remained sitting at the cozy table while Mr. Lupin talked merrily about his job at St. Mungo's on the psych ward while sipping a gin and tonic and smoking a fat cigar.

"What exactly do you do there, Mr. Lupin?" Hermione asked over some tea.

"Well, basically my job is to evaluate and analyze patients whose brains have been addled by magic, or who have a psychological disorder, and decide which method of treatment would be best. Occasionally, I get patients of my own. Just today I was able to release a person from my care who I was treating for whitzophrenia. It's a really interesting job. St. Mungo's is a great place to work. They're so understaffed that they provide basic first aid and advanced first aid training at a smaller cost than most of the other wizarding hospitals in Europe."

After several more hours of small talk, Remus and Hermione were sent to bed.

Remus snuck into Hermione's room later that night, armed with an arsenal of junk food and butterbeer.

Hermione was sitting on her bed, flipping through the channels on the TV.

"Anything good on?" Remus asked. Hermione jumped and then, with a relieved sigh that it wasn't a horrible monster or boogeyman, replied "Not really".

"Why do your parents have a television anyway?" Hermione asked as Remus set the food down on the bed next to her.

"We have some muggle relatives, since Mum is muggleborn, and they appreciate having a TV while they're here. I believe we might have a movie or two," replied Remus, pulling out a couple of tapes.

"Hmm, why don't you pick." Said Hermione, picking up a small thermos filled with butterbeer.

Remus picked out a horror flick. It was all Hermione could barely contain her laughter as they both pointed out zippers on backs of monster suits and how obvious it was that the buildings were made out of cardboard. The movie was obviously very old.

After they were done with the movie, they sat and chatted.

"Hermione…if you could, would you go back to your own time?" Remus inquired hesitantly after a while.

Hermione didn't quite know the answer…she missed Harry and Ron and a lot of other people and things in the future, but she had made such good friends here. She was still reluctant to think about it, and she tended to avoid it in conversation with the Marauders.

"I don't know. I miss my friends in the future, but I have such good friends here. If the opportunity presented itself, I might. But only if I knew that nothing bad would happen to you and that I'd be able to see you all in the future. And have you remember me, of course." Hermione said, as much to herself as Remus.

Hermione had not thought about what would happen if she did go back to the future and Remus remembered her. What if that really happened? What would he think of her?

_Which is PRECISELY why you are NOT getting romantically involved with ANYONE while you're here in the past!_ One half of her brain told the other firmly.

They conversed for a couple more hours, before Remus got up and said that he was going to sleep, promising that they'd have some fun tomorrow.

Hermione loved the Lupins. Time passed quickly there. Mrs. Lupin needed help with her garden, and Hermione was always glad to tend to the amazing magical plants that resided there. Mr. Lupin and Hermione spent hours discussing all things that were muggle, for he, like Mr. Weasley in the future, was very passionate about how muggles lived their everyday lives. Hermione laughed when Mr.Lupin exclaimed things like "Without magic!" and "How do they survive?"

Remus was lots of fun too. On days when Hermione didn't help Mrs. Lupin in her garden, they went down to the river to skip rocks and swim, occasionally wandering into the town near where they lived. She was almost sad to leave when the week they were going to spend at Godric's Hollow came.

"Make sure you all behave yourselves, and if you need me I'm only a fireplace away!" Mrs. Lupin said with a worried expression."

"Don't worry, Mrs. Lupin, I'll keep the boys in check," said Hermione with a smile and a wink.

They flooed to Godric's Hollow, where Hermione and Remus were greeted by a worried, almost frantic looking James.

"What's wrong?" asked Remus as James paced back and forth haphazardly in curvy lines.

"Sirius isn't here yet. He was supposed to be here yesterday. I can't find where he lives; his house is unplottable, and my parents aren't here to help me. They're away at a resort. I have no idea what happened to him. I just hope he's okay," said James with a very concerned expression marring his handsome face.

They persuaded James to sit down on the armchair in front of the fireplace, got him a cup of tea (in which Remus put a small amount of Firewhiskey to help calm James down), and waited.

After several hours, Peter showed up. Once he'd been filled in on the predicament, he sat waiting with the rest of the Marauders.

At around 6:00 am, they heard a very weak knock at the door. James immediately jumped up to get it.

"REMUS! HERMIONE! PETER! COME QUICKLY AND HELP ME; HE'S HURT!" James screamed at the top of his lungs. He looked a disaster, with his hair ruffled and his face flushed, but he was nothing compared to Sirius.

An unconscious frame was sprawled on the doorstep, legs bent at strange angles. Only the silky black mop of hair identified this person to be Sirius. Bruises were scattered across his limp figure, the most prominent of which being a huge black eye. An assortment of wounds oozed onto his robes, covering them with blood. His ragged and noisy breaths were the only sign that he was alive.

The grisly sight was too horrific for words. No, explicatives or explanations were useless. Action, however, was necessary. Remus, James, and Hermione picked the still unconscious Sirius up and laid him down on a couch that was in the living room. James and Peter went to James' parents' medicine cabinet to get various healing potions while Remus and Hermione began to tend to the cuts and bruises that Sirius had mysteriously acquired.

"Ennervate," breathed Remus as he pointed his wand at Sirius' chest. Sirius' eyes opened. He moaned in agony, his chest moving erratically up and down.

"Sirius, what happened?" asked Hermione gently, pressing a cool cloth to his head.

"Pain…Cruciatus…Parents…" he said weakly.

Remus and Hermione were pleased when James and Peter finally came out of James' parents' room, holding several colorful bottles of potion.

They administered some potion to take away the bruises and cuts, one to fix the broken rib that Hermione noticed was about to poke through his skin, and one to help him with the pain. They also gave him a shot of Firewhiskey to help him relax.

"Sirius, please tell us what happened."

"Well, it all started one lovely, joyous, fantabulous April afternoon…I was dancing and prancing around gaily, playing with the kittens that came up to me, meowing…" even half dead, Sirius had an (odd) sense of humor. His grin was quickly replaced by a grimace. Breathing was obviously painful, and most of his wounds hadn't healed.

"Sirius, I'm begging you, just tell us what happened," pleaded Hermione.

"Well, my parents and I got in a fight," said Sirius, looking down as though he were ashamed.

"I figured," said James, dryly.

"Mother started off on one of her 'you shouldn't be hanging around with mudbloods and blood traitors' rants. She started screaming about how ungrateful I was, and what a disgrace it was to the so-called 'noble' black family name to be even seen with a muggleborn. I started yelling at her, telling her what a brilliant witch Hermione is, and half the people at our school are. Father leg-locked me and told me that 'I was no son of his'," said Sirius, his eyes darkening.

"But that doesn't explain the cuts and bruises." Said Remus

"Or the broken rib," added Hermione.

"What did you say next?" said Peter very quietly.

"I told him I'd rather be a muggle born than any son of his."

They all gasped.

"Oh, what did he do to you?" squeaked Hermione.

"The usual. They gave me the Cruciatus curse, and then afterwards kicked me around a bit while mother called me a blood traitor." said Sirius, his eyes shining with the memory.

"THE USUAL! Goddammit Padfoot, you have got to tell us these things! You can't live there anymore! You shouldn't have been living there in the first place!" exclaimed James.

"Sirius, I had no idea that your life at home was like that! I thought you said they never laid a wand on you!" cried Remus in a mixture of pity and revulsion.

"I couldn't have you guys worrying, I'm fine," said Sirius with a heartbreaking look in his eyes.

"Sirius. You had a broken rib. You were…no, ARE completely covered in cuts and bruises. You are not fine. You have deluded yourself into thinking that you're fine." Said James flatly.

"I said I'm fine" Sirius hissed with an angry look in his eye.

"Sirius," Hermione said softly, "You can't live there anymore. Your parents are hurting you. Sirius, it is likely if you hadn't gotten help you would have died from a loss of blood. You probably have several very large internal injuries that we should get checked out, and the Cruciatus curse has drained your strength to a dangerous level."

"You live here from now on, Sirius. I'm not letting you ever go back," said James fiercely.

Sirius said nothing, but nodded silently.

"May we take a quick look at that rib to make sure it didn't heal in an odd position?" asked Hermione kindly.

Sirius nodded, and Hermione pulled up his shirt, gasping audibly. Not only was his stomach and chest covered with scars, but his stomach was turning into a large area of bluish-purple bruises.

"Sirius, your rib is fine, but it is obvious that you do have serious internal injuries. Can you see your stomach?" said Hermione in shocked tones.

"I'll floo my mum and dad. They should be able to help us," said Remus as he tossed the glittering powder into James' fireplace.

When Mr. and Mrs. Lupin got there, they were astounded at the horrid state of Sirius' body. A lot of the bruises remained (including the large ones on his stomach) and most of the cuts hadn't disappeared despite the potion he'd been given. They asked him to walk, but when he stood upright he immediately fell to the ground and threw up. They laid him down, cleaned up the vomit, and Mr. Lupin made an unofficial diagnosis.

"You have lost a lot of blood, hence the inability to walk and the cuts and bruises not healing with the potions James gave you. Possibly fractures in the legs, too. Given the location of the bruising I'd say you are bleeding from several organs, possibly the liver and spleen, maybe from the lower intestine. This probably isn't going to heal by itself anytime soon because of the Cruciatus curse that was put on you (which has taken away most of your strength)…not to mention the seriousness of the injuries. Now either I can try to heal you, or I can send you to St. Mungo's. Which do you prefer?"

"Will you please heal me? I don't want to explain this to anyone else," said Sirius, avoiding Mr. Lupin's eyes.

Mr. Lupin first set up a small cauldron on the floor where he made a dreamless sleep potion, along with several others of which James, Sirius, Remus, and Hermione did not know the names of. He gave Sirius the potion for dreamless sleep first, explaining that it would be easier to heal while he wasn't awake and thinking.

After Sirius was asleep, Mr. Lupin explained that one of the potions he had made was actually a salve, and enlisted Hermione's assistance in getting all of the bruises, nix the large ones on his stomach. That was only the beginning of the painfully slow process of completely healing Sirius.

After seven hours they were done. The healing procedures were fairly quick, but it had taken a long time to prepare the different potions that needed brewed.

"He should wake up in about ten minutes if I timed his dose of dreamless sleep potion right. When he wakes up he'll be as healthy as a horse. I'll stay here to do a post-op physical, if that's alright." Mr. Lupin said, standing up and maneuvering his way to the kitchen to wash his hands.

Sure enough, Sirius woke up fifteen minutes later. Mr. Lupin checked his pulse and breathing, and although he was shaky on his legs he could walk. They thanked Mr. Lupin for all of his help over and over, and waved goodbye to him as he spun away through the fireplace.

"So, feeling better?" asked Peter, hovering over Sirius.

"Yeah, loads. I'm seriously grateful that your dad helped me, Remus. I might owl him sometime…" said Sirius with a very thankful expression on his face.

"It took a really long time to heal you. You had a broken arm and about six stab wounds that we had to deal with, along with the internal injuries and small cuts and bruises. You didn't tell us your father stabbed you. You are definitely living here from now on, Sirius, they'd kill you if you stayed there any longer," said James with a serious expression on his face.

"I know…I know…I don't really want to go back. But six stab wounds! Good God, I only felt three!" he said with a look of amazement on his face. The rest of the Marauders didn't seem so amazed, however. The rest of the Marauders were positively revolted at Sirius' words.

"Right…That's beside the point. Thank you for letting me live here, James. Are you sure your parent's will have me?" he asked, that hopeful, innocent-puppy look on his face.

"I'm positive. They wouldn't mind, we have plenty of space! And they would love to have you; they think you're really great!"

Sirius smiled. "What time is it?" He asked.

"Around 6:00pm. You were out for a while. We started at around 11:00am."

"Wow… you know, it's happy hour. We should drink!"

"Sirius…you just got out of a seven hour healing. We had to do what St. Mungo's would've done, without all of the St. Mungo's equipment. The actual healing processes didn't take to long, but the preparation was exhausting, for all of us. You are not going to drink tonight. We can party tomorrow," said Hermione, with a very stern look on her face.

"Promise?" asked Sirius, putting on his best begging puppy eyes.

The Marauders nodded, reassuring Sirius that there would be a nice big party tomorrow to make up for the lost time.

They stayed up and caught up on each others summers. Remus and Hermione received a lot of flak for sharing a house for such a long time without James', Sirius', and Peter's careful supervision.

"FOR THE LAST BLOODY TIME WE ARE NOT DATING!" roared Remus and Hermione simultaneously.

They all laughed and went up to their rooms.

James' parents were greeted early in the morning by James, Remus, and Hermione. Sirius was still asleep.

"Hello Remus, Hermione. James, what are you and your friends doing up, it's 4:00 am?" asked Mrs. Potter, pouring herself a cup of tea.

"Sirius came home a day late. We found him hurt on our doorstep. Seriously hurt. Mr. Lupin came by, and it took seven hours to heal him," started Remus

"What happened to him? Was it…it wasn't," understanding dawned on Mr. Potter's face, "his parent's?"

They nodded simultaneously.

"Oh, poor dear! What did they do to him?" asked Mrs. Potter with a horrified look on her face.

"Well…Sirius and his parents got into an argument. A really, REALLY big argument. His parents…" Hermione's voice died as a sick feeling swept over her stomach at all the disgusting wounds she, Remus, and James had treated.

"His parents gave him the Cruciatus curse," an audible gasp was heard from the Potters at Remus' words, "stabbed him several times," more gasping, "kicked him around for a bit, and I guess he crawled to our house."

Mrs. Potter had tears glistening in her eyes. Mr. Potter looked like he was ready to kill… something.

"We must write to Mr. Lupin, thanking him," said Mrs. Potter, bustling about with her teapot.

"He is NOT going back to those monsters," snarled Mr. Potter, "that is HORRIBLE!" He seemed utterly furious.

"Thank you. He has nowhere else to go. Mr. and Mrs. Lupin couldn't take him, and we're pretty sure Hermione and Peter's parents wouldn't have been able to take him in."

Mr. Potter began pacing and muttering, "it's horrific…his own parents…supposed to protect him…supposed to take care of him."

Hermione looked over at James, looking for an explanation for his father's odd behavior.

"He went through that too, when he was fourteen he left to live with my mother's family," murmured James in her ear. Hermione simply nodded, understanding how hard it must be for Mr. Potter to see this happen to someone else.

"I'm going to go check on the poor darling," said Mrs. Potter, who was followed up the stairs by, Remus, James, Hermione, and Mr. Potter.

They quietly crept into Sirius' room, where Sirius appeared to be fast asleep. Mrs. Potter listened intently as Hermione pointed out the assorted cuts (which had turned into scars) that they had treated. Hermione pulled up Sirius' shirt to show where the ribs had been broken, pointing out how scar covered Sirius' chest was. A tear glistened on Mrs. Potter's cheek as she stroked Sirius' face gently, murmuring, "Oh dear, oh dear".

Sirius looked up blearily, a tear glistening on his cheek too.

"It's alright, Mrs. Potter, I'm fine." Sirius said softly

Mrs. Potter shook her head.

Hermione, Remus, and James felt very awkward, and they crept out of the room. They felt sorry for Sirius, but the moment that Mrs. Potter and Sirius were sharing - a true mother/son moment - was entirely too emotional for the fellow Marauders to intrude on.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sirius woke up early the next morning, which annoyed everyone.

"Sirius, it is 7:00 in the morning. What the hell is wrong with you?" grumbled the Marauders blearily.

Sirius protested that they were lazy bums and that they should've been up hours ago.

"Sirius, it is rather disturbing that you are a morning person," complained Hermione as Sirius poured her some coffee and orange juice.

"So, what do you guys wanna do today?" asked Sirius, blatantly ignoring the griping of the others.

"Why not head down to the pond? We could take food and stuff," said James after a few cups of coffee.

"Yea, verily" said Sirius with a bow of his head and his hands together, palms inward. This bizarre display earned him odd looks from James and Remus.

They packed their bags and a small basket with food and Firewhiskey and headed out to the beach by the pond on James' parents land.

"Your place is huge, James! I mean, your house is big, you have to have at least twenty acres of land, and you have a pond!" exclaimed Hermione.

James simply nodded, feeling slightly awkward at Hermione's comments.

They arrived at the pond several minutes later. Hermione lay out on the beach tanning while the boys splashed around in the water.

"C'mon Hermione, join us, we're playing chicken!" Said Sirius with a bark-like laugh.

Hermione smiled and went down to the water.

"Peter is our judge, he doesn't really like playing chicken. We'll call teams. I wanna be with James!" explained Sirius as he threw James up onto his shoulder.

Remus gently picked up Hermione and placed her delicately on his shoulders. The teams stepped forward. James immediately grabbed Hermione's shoulders. Hermione grabbed him by the waist and jerked him forward. James lost his balance, and plunged into the water, Hermione and Remus laughing. She did the same to Sirius, and even Peter who'd decided to join in and see if he could beat 'The Great and All Powerful Hermione' as James had christened her.

Next team was Hermione and Sirius against Remus and James. Hermione was on Sirius' shoulders. Remus already knew the fatal move which knocked James off his high horse and evaded it. Hermione would have to try something different.

Remus grabbed her shoulder's as James as done. Hermione grabbed his waist just as she'd done before. But this time, she didn't pull him forward, she leaned closer…and closer until their faces were inches apart.

And then she kissed him on the forehead.

He fell off on his own.

Sirius, Peter, and James began laughing as Remus sat up in the water, blushing furiously.

"Sorry, Remus, but you'll understand…Still my friend, right?" said Hermione, sitting on James' shoulders with a slightly arrogant smirk on her face.

Remus simply muttered under his breath, still blushing. The Marauders poked fun at this for several more minutes before Sirius suggested a break for lunch, shouting that they needed to save the alcohol for later.

After several rousing games of 'Marco-Polo' the sun began to slowly set. Remus slyly pulled out a cabernet (AN: a really good red wine for those of you who don't know. Try it with some cheese, bleu on crackers if possible. It's good on it's own too (-: ) and five glasses, saying he'd taken it from his parents wine cupboard.

"Mom loves wine. She is a wine connoisseur. She collects a lot, so I figure she won't miss this bottle. She has six of these anyway," Remus said as he poured each of the Marauders a glass. "Besides, what's a good wine if you can't enjoy it?" They each took one and sat down on the beach.

"To the Marauders," Said Sirius while raising his glass, "That we may always have slightly more than what we need, that we may laugh slightly too loud, that we may drink slightly too much, and that our friendship will always last,"

Their glasses clinked and they drank.

"I have two questions," said Hermione after she had a sip, savoring the lovely flavor of the wine, "one: why do we always have unlimited amounts of alcohol and two: Sirius, since when are you so…deep?"

"Well, I'm a bloody lush," replied Sirius, who had just drunk deeply from his glass, "and I am capable of being serious."

They sat in quiet contemplation for several minutes. Peter suggested that they start a fire if they were planning on staying. Hermione was extremely grateful that wizarding law was different in this time then in the future. They were legally allowed to perform magic as long as no muggles were around within 4 miles, and since James house's property was a good 5 miles big and the pond was in the center, they had a fire going in seconds. After finishing of the wine, Sirius cracked open a bottle of Firewhiskey and pulled out shot glasses for everyone.

"Let's play a game!" squeaked Peter.

"I never! That's the perfect game!" barked Sirius.

"James starts!" said Peter, filling his shot glass to the brim.

"I never…kissed a boy," said James craftily. Sirius and Hermione each took a shot.

"I never watched a muggle television," said Sirius, watching everyone take a shot.

As usual, the game spiraled out of control until everyone but Remus was completely smashed. Remus, being the intelligent one, sobered them all up magically, and death-marched them back up to the house.

At noon the next day, the Marauders got the results of their OWLs. No one was disappointed. Hermione got straight O's, as did everyone but Peter, who got A's and E's in everything except History of Magic in which he got a T. After they were all fed and watered with a good breakfast, they went school shopping in Diagon Alley. As none of them could fly, and floo powder was scarce at the Potter's, the Knight Bus was their method of transportation.

They hopped on the Knight Bus, and grabbed a squashy armchair in the back. "Best way to avoid vomit flying at the back of your head," explained Sirius with a knowing look on his face, as he threw his large bag of school supplies on James' lap, much to James' dismay.

"Ministry of Magic, please," said Mr. Potter. The Marauders looked at him in a confused manner.

"James, Sirius, everybody for that matter. We have an announcement to make. We're going down to the ministry to legally adopt Sirius," Mr. Potter announced proudly.

Sirius' eyes became large as dish plates as he gave the puppy-eye look to Mr. and Mrs. Potter.

"Wha-what?" he said in a small voice, "is this some kind of cruel trick?"

"Of course not!" said Mrs. Potter, "that would be malicious to the point of ridiculousness! We want you to be our son. You deserve a life so much better than the one you were forced to live with your abusive parents."

The bus stopped suddenly, propelling Hermione and Remus out of their seats and on top of James, Peter, and the Potters. They muddled out of the bus, tipping the driver, and crawled into the phone booth, explaining to the cool voice that they wanted to go to the adoption agency.

They submitted their wands for check, and moved to the third floor to the adoption center.

They filled out all the forms, and in a mere hour Sirius was officially the son of Mr. and Mrs. Potter and James' brother. Normally, the birth parents would have to be there. In this case, he was adopted without permission of the Blacks, for the Potters cited abuse and neglect as one of their reasons to adopt.

Mr. Potter suggested that they go out to dinner, as a celebration of their new son and as a last meal before the Marauders started school again. Sirius made the surprising choice of a nice Italian place. After several hours of eating and drinking, Mr. and Mrs. Potter had to insist that they leave, as they had a train to catch in the morning.

**Authors Note:** This chapter took me five days. FIVE WHOLE DAYS! My SOUL went into this. I revised and re-revised till I thought it was PERFECT! I am starting to get obsessive-compulsive about this story...It's almost frightening. This chapter is awhole helluva lot longer than all the others...I hope you enjoy it.

**Co-Authors Note**: Seriously, this chapter took FOREVER to edit. My sister has a mortal fear of the shift key. I believe it's called, "shiftamonophobophobia". Believe it. Or not.


	9. The Sorting, The Dream, and The Howlers

**CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FIFTIETH REVIEWER**

**XcruciatusX**

**THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO YOU!**

Sirius looked oddly sad on the Hogwarts express. After the Marauders tried and failed to cheer him up several times, he left the compartment muttering to himself with a worried look marring his handsome face.

"What's wrong with him?" Hermione asked the Marauders with a troubled tone.

"No clue," said James with an equally puzzled expression on his visage.

After about an hour, Sirius returned, his look of sadness replaced by an expression of bizarre unease.

Hermione leaned forward, touching Sirius' arm as a comforting gesture (much to Remus' displeasure).

"What's wrong?" she asked gently, peering into his conflicted dark eyes.

Sirius looked up at her.

"My brother's being sorted today. I'm seriously worried that he'll be put in Slytherin. He's a good person at heart, but I'm worried that my parents'," he paused for an oddly cruel and bark-like laugh, "'teachings' may change his fate in the house sorting."

"Sirius," she began. She didn't quite know where to go with this, or how to explain.

"Do you know what house he goes to? Is that knowledge that you are privileged to have?" he asked sharply.

Hermione simply nodded.

"Well, what house is he in then?" he inquired impatiently.

"Sl-Slytherin," she started. Sirius looked horrified.

"I have worse news then that, I'm afraid. He joins V-Voldemort right after school, under your parents' urging. But he changes his mind… too late. He's killed when he backs out."

Sirius looked ready to cry.

"No, no," he said more to himself then Hermione, "No, that's impossible. He's a good person, I know he is!"

Hermione got up; stricken at the grief she had caused Sirius.

Hermione practically ran up and down the corridors of the train, searching for someone who'd know where Regulus was. Frazzled and dazed from the shock of seeing Sirius so upset over his brother, she knew this was something she had to change, something she could prevent. What was more surprising is that Sirius had given her the impression that he loathed his brother in the future. Perhaps he just resented that he was unable to help him. These ponderings were driven out of her head as the thoughts of how upset Sirius was and how she could fix this and add allies to the 'good' side flew in.

She stopped a group of small, nervous people. "Know a Regulus Black?" She asked hurriedly. They shook their heads and she continued throughout the train.

She came upon a compartment with a lone person hunched by the window. His face, uncannily like Sirius', was marred with the same expression the older Black had worn on his face mere minutes ago. He looked lonely, lost, and confused.

She gently opened the door to his compartment and took a seat in front of him.

"Regulus?" she said softly. He looked up and nodded.

"You look so lonely. What's the matter?" She asked kindly.

Hermione thanked the unknown deity's that had given her the mysterious power to make people reveal even their deepest fears, worries, and secrets to her from her very first meeting with them.

"It's the sorting. My parents want me in Slytherin, but I'd really prefer Gryffindor," he said quietly.

"Why does that make you nervous?" She pressed, still maintaining her non-threatening demeanor.

"If I'm in Slytherin, I may not get to see my big brother much, you know, since he got kicked out of my parents house and all," he said, still obviously uneasy, "but if I'm in Gryffindor, then my parents will do to me the same that they did to Sirius." He was shaking like a leaf.

"Regulus," He met her eyes for the first time, "are your parent's really being fair when they give you a choice like that?" He shook his head. "I want you to know that if you're in Gryffindor and you don't want to go back home, Mrs. and Mr. Potter would probably keep you like they're keeping Sirius."

"Oh, I already know that. Sirius gave me a letter from the Potters offering me a place to stay.

"Then is there even a reason to be worried?" She replied, sensing that he was definitely more comfortable with her now.

"What if I get sorted into Slytherin anyway? And I don't know if I can leave my parents, I mean, they keep talking about how they're going to get Siri, what if I'm not there to stop them? When I leave there isn't anybody to keep them from killing Sirius, I'm the only one who would!"

"You can't have that much responsibility, you're eleven! Don't worry, Sirius is a very powerful wizard, and I'll protect him; I'm a very powerful witch." She tapped his head with her wand and said, "Avis". Canaries began circling his head and he smiled tentatively.

"And about maybe being sorted into Slytherin," She said. He nodded attentively. "It is our choices, not our abilities that determine who we are." She tapped his head and the birds disappeared. "Goodbye" she waved at him as she walked out the door, hoping she'd done something right.

She went back to her compartment with the Marauders and sat between Remus and Sirius.

"Siri," she said comfortingly, "I'm really, really sorry for telling you about your brother. But perhaps this time it'll be alright. He told me about the note the Potters sent him, and I think he might come live at the Potters with you." Sirius smiled weakly, and the Marauders settled into a slightly less than comfortable silence.

The Hogwarts Express began to halt much to everyone's pleasure. Sirius and James jumped off while it was still moving, colliding with Hagrid who ruffled their hair playfully and threw them over his shoulder and carried them to the carriages.

Hermione smiled to see Sirius and James having such fun. Remus, Hermione, and Peter got off the train, meeting Sirius and James in the front carriage.

"I am so hungry," said Sirius, licking his lips loudly.

The carriage bounced along in a pleasant manner. Sirius complained so much about his starvation and "thirstation," that James was forced to cast a silencing charm on him much to Sirius' dismay.

The carriage was brought to an abrupt standstill in front of the magnificent castle. Hermione, Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James clambered out and migrated to the castle, much like moths do to a light bulb.

They passed a gaggle of first years that were waiting outside of the great hall. She waved at Regulus, and as she walked past whispered, "Choices" and gave him as small wink.

The Marauders sat down at the Gryffindor table and listened to the Sorting Hat's song. A line of new students filed through the door at the command of Professor McGonagall. She unfurled a long roll of parchment with a snap of her wrist and began reading.

"Allen, Robert" she said curtly, her spectacles flashing in the dim candlelight. A scrawny boy stepped up to the gat, which fell over his eyes. "I swear, I was not that small when I was a first year," muttered James under his breath. Hermione silently laughed, thinking of all the times Harry had said that exact same thing. After a moment, the hat shouted, "Ravenclaw!" The table to the Marauders' right erupted in cheers.

"Azal, Susan" was made into a Hufflepuff.

She Read alphabetically through the list, till she finally got down to "Bawny, Steven", "Belena, Belinda","Bitt, Abby"; at last getting to "Black, Regulus.

She could see Sirius beginning to sweat. She had her fingers crossed under the table, making inventive promises to God as she prayed that Regulus would be sorted into Gryffindor.

After what seemed like years, the hat called out, "Slytherin!"

Tears began to pour down Hermione's face while Sirius began banging his head repeatedly on the wooden table.

"NO! WAIT! I'VE MADE A MISTAKE!" The hat screamed out. Sirius stopped banging his head on the table for a moment to listen.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Sirius' eyes became comically wide as Regulus rushed down the isle to meet his big brother.

After being congratulated many times by Sirius, Remus, James, Peter, and Hermione, Regulus turned to Hermione and quietly thanked her for her advice. Then he turned to James and thanked him and his parents for the offer of a home and accepted it. James was pleased to have another person to play quidditch with and promised to right his parents as soon as possible.

Dumbledore stood up after "Zabini, William" was sorted into Slytherin and announced the beginning of the feast.

Sirius devoured an entire roast chicken in seconds, a feat which the new blood hadn't seen yet. Sirius ended up signing a lot of autographs, mainly of wide-eyed first years in awe of his talent.

After the food was cleared away, Dumbledore made his usual speech about what was forbidden and what wasn't, then dismissed the yawning students to their dormitories.

On the way up to the Fat Lady, Sirius grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her aside into an empty corridor.

"Hermione, I'd really like to thank you. I don't know what you said to him, but it obviously worked, made something click in his mind. When I asked him to come live at the Potters with me, he just about threw me out of the compartment. What did you say to him?"

"Well, first I asked him what was wrong. He told me that he was nervous about the sorting. I asked him why, and he told me that he was worried that if he was in Slytherin he'd never see or speak to you again. He told me if he was in Gryffindor, his parents would do to him what they did to you. They talk constantly of killing you, apparently, and he thinks he has to stop them. So I told him I'd protect you, because I'm very powerful, and it isn't his responsibility anyway."

"But why'd the hat change its mind? How did my brother get the hat to do that?" he said, quite puzzled.

"Sirius, it is our choices, not our abilities that determine who we are," said Hermione, repeating what she'd told Regulus.

"So, my brother chose Gryffindor?" Sirius said with a laughably bewildered look on his face.

"Only because he was brave enough to tell the hat what he wanted, which means that Gryffindor was the right for him all along," said Hermione wisely.

Without warning, Sirius pulled Hermione into a large hug.

"Thank you so much. I don't know what I'd have done if he'd been put into Slytherin." He said gruffly into her hair.

Remus rounded the corner, feeling slightly sick at the sight of Sirius and Hermione hugging. He gulped down his jealously and called out to them, "Hey, lovebirds, not in the hall!" Hermione jumped and screeched briefly in surprise. She sighed with relief upon realizing that it wasn't Dumbledore. "Remus, you scared me! How dare you?" she replied in mock anger. Remus laughed dryly, trying to hide his obvious envy at Sirius' hug.

Sirius watched Remus closely. _I knew it!_ He thought wisely to himself, his famous father-time look plastered on his face, along with a slightly devilish grin. The Marauders trekked up to Gryffindor tower, Hermione going up to bed immediately, talking about how she needed to get up early the next morning to do a little extra reading before their first classes.

Remus was about to follow James and Peter up the dormitory steps when Sirius stopped him.

"HALT IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!" Sirius shouted. Remus immediately turned around, covetous feelings at Sirius and Hermione's hug still whirling around through his mind.

"What the hell are you talking about, Sirius?" Remus asked tiredly, trying to keep the spite out of his voice.

"Remmy-poo, you and I both know what I'm talking about. You were jealous when you saw me hug Hermione, I know you were," said Sirius astutely, tapping his nose in a desperate and failed attempt to look wise.

Remus' stomach flipped. Not only did Sirius know what he was feeling scarily well, but he had also just called Remus 'Remmy-poo.'

"No, I am not," said Remus, attempting seriousness.

Sirius gave Remus one of those crazy, yet startlingly convincing, "all-knowing" looks.

"I WASN'T" Remus protested loudly.

Sirius tapped his foot impatiently.

Remus looked away from Sirius crossing his arms. "I was in NO WAY jealous of you hugging Hermione." He said stubbornly.

"Then, my sweet Remmy-poo, why is it that when I looked at you after you came upon us, you looked like the sky was falling? Can you give me a logical answer to that, eh? EH? Eh, Remmy, eh?"

Remus said nothing.

"Remus, just so you know, I was only thanking her for helping my brother get into Gryffindor, okay? There was nothing to it, it meant nothing. Even though she is rather pretty…" Sirius goaded, thinking it was sure to work.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER, MAN-WHORE!" Remus screamed without thinking. He immediately clapped his hands over his mouth, gray eyes wide.

"I knew it," said Sirius Smugly, "don't worry, she's yours. You really like her, I'm not about to get all up on my best friends territory, I was just trying to get you to admit it. And I'm not a man-whore; I'm a connoisseur of fine women!"

"No, you don't know anything, she isn't my 'territory' as you so nicely put it, and I was just trying to protect her from your man-whorish ways. Oh, and YES you ARE a man-whore."

Sirius gave a look of deep offense.

"Ok, I'm sorry for calling you a man-whore. Have a Pumpkin Pasty." Remus said, handing over the sweet cake. Remus relished that after six years of knowing Sirius, he had finally perfected the flavorless sedative, extremely glad that that it was so strong that Sirius wouldn't remember the conversation the next morning. Sirius was out like a light. Remus levitated him carefully up the stairs, praying that the tranquilizer would work perfectly as intended.

-In the Girls Dorm-

Hermione was buzzing with her success with Regulus. She changed into some plain white pajamas with little red roses outlining the edges and crawled into bed, wondering how she was going to sleep with the trill and adrenaline from the hat's screech of "Gryffindor!"

Strangely, the second her head hit the pillow she was asleep.

She found herself in a big white room. She felt strangely at peace. Her own voice rang throughout her head echoing in the strange emptiness of the haven. "Good job with Regulus."

"What's going on?" Hermione said, looking around for someone or something that was talking.

She turned three-hundred and sixty degrees only to whirl around and face… herself.

"Who are you?" asked Hermione, very surprised and confused, but determined not to show it on her face. Hermione Granger was not one to reveal weaknesses to potential enemies. Even so, this strange entity did not seem like an enemy to Hermione.

"I'm you," the person in front of her replied.

"I see. Is this…a dream?" Hermione inquired. 'Hermione' nodded.

"Errrr, ok. I want to wake up, now." said Hermione in more of a question then a statement.

'Hermione shook her head with an annoyingly understanding smile on her face.

"Don't you want to see the results of your actions?"

Hermione's mouth dropped open. "What do you mean?"

"You can see the results of your actions. You made Sirius' life a little better, and Harry's life a lot better. Let me show you."

"Hermione was suddenly watching a movie of sorts. Sirius and Regulus ran towards the burnt frame of what appeared to once be Godric's Hollow.

"No," a much older Sirius whimpered, "No, this isn't happening, no."

Someone who seemed to be Regulus kneeled down next to what seemed to be a small lump. "Harry," said Regulus, picking up the baby carefully. He flicked his wand, making some blankets appear, wrapping up the baby. Sirius got up and walked over to a corner where two lifeless figures lay. Hazel and Green eyes stared blankly up into the cloudy night sky, completely lifeless.

Sirius crumpled. Hermione's breath caught in her chest as she watched Sirius' eyes fill as he howled over and over again, "No, please God, this isn't happening! This can't be happening, this is a mistake. Please, no!" Sirius fell silent, and his chest rose raggedly up and down.

Hermione saw Remus apparate and run down to the hideous scene. Remus looked at Sirius, very confused. He then saw the bodies and fell on his knees, unblinking in shock as he looked down at James and Lily.

"Sirius, no. What happened…? You were their Secret Keeper, how could you?" he hissed menacingly, fury filling the void in which two of his best friends had once been. His gray eyes blazed with a fire Hermione never would have thought he possessed.

Sirius looked shocked through his misery. "Remus, please, don't even think that. I wasn't the Secret Keeper, we changed behind closed doors. It was…," He said weakly.

"If it wasn't you then who was it?" he asked warningly.

"Peter."

"You lie!" said Remus, brandishing his wand threateningly.

"Ok, I'll just leave, then. I'm glad we have such a trusting friendship," replied Sirius coldly and cruelly sarcastic.

"Remus, no, he isn't lying!" Said Regulus loudly from several yards away, tending the baby.

Remus tackled Sirius, forgetting entirely about his wand.

"WHAT is the MATTER with you?" He roared in rage, "Don't try and blame your fuck up on poor, innocent Peter!"

Regulus flicked his wand from where he was standing with the baby and strolled over to the once-fighting, now-motionless men.

"Remus, I understand your frustration, anger, and grief. They were my friends too, and they were Sirius friends. Sirius probably understands you more than me; James and Lily were more yours and Sirius' friends than mine. Have you been in contact with Peter lately? How did you find out about the deaths? I'm sure you received an owl from Aberforth Dumbledore, the nearest person to the Potters geographically, as did Sirius and I. Now, tell me Remus, where is Peter? I'm sure he'd be here right now if he wasn't James' and Lily's betrayers. No, Aberforth contacted him as well, but he didn't come because he knew if you did, when you found out he'd be in deep trouble. Tell me, why would Sirius come, he knew you'd come; you and Sirius, and even Peter were James' and Lily's best friends. But I'll bet you a million galleons that Peter would be here right now grieving with you if this whole mess wasn't his fault, if he wasn't a double agent. And frankly, I'm disappointed in you for even thinking Sirius could be responsible for this, he was James' best man for goodness sake!"

Remus and Sirius were taken out of the body bind. Remus' knees buckled and his eyes portrayed the anger at Peter, and then the realization that was what Regulus was undoubtedly true.

"I'm so sorry, mate. I should've believed you, and at the very least listened to your side of the story."

Sirius gave a slow, sad nod of forgiveness, his eyes never leaving Remus'.

They turned back to the bodies.

"I can't believe they're…they're dead."

"Me neither. But we can't grieve for too long, Remus. We have to do something with the bodies for now and be in contact with Albus."

"I'm sure Aberforth already contacted Albus," said Regulus who was gently trying to heal Harry's bleeding forehead.

They looked down at the bodies once more. Remus moved them to a more natural position then they had been crumpled in before, and laid red and gold cloths over them which he had conjured out of midair.

"We should find a place for Harry to stay for now, and then go kill Peter," said Sirius.

Remus nodded.

"I don't think so, Sirius. One, this baby need's a home, and two, that home is NOT with me. They'll get peter, don't worry. Peter isn't exactly the fastest broom in the race, if you get my meaning. Revenge isn't your priority; you need to take care of Harry." Regulus said, pushing the baby into Sirius' arms. "You are this baby's father now. Be responsible, for James and Lily. You are his godfather and surrogate father, after all.

Sirius looked down at the baby. Droplets fell onto the baby's cheeks, but they weren't Harry's. It was Sirius' tears that fell onto Harry's face.

"I can't believe they're gone. I can't believe I'm a father now, in a manner of sense, too. What if I'm not a good father? You know I say this all the time, but he has…he had his mother's eyes." He stared into the baby's now open vibrantly green eyes. "Pa'foo" Harry said, looking up at Sirius in recognition. "Pa'foo?" he asked as if to say "Why are you crying?" Hermione's heart skipped a beat as she watched this heart-wrenching scene.

Suddenly, the screen skipped forward. She saw broken scenes from Harry's life. Harry blowing out candle's on his fifth birthday, Harry and Sirius reading a letter from Hogwarts, Sirius and Remus taking Harry on a trip to Diagon Alley, Harry being waved off by Remus, Regulus, and Sirius, yelling from the speeding Hogwarts express "BYE UNCLE MOONY! BYE REGULUS! BY SIRI!"

The movie cut off, and Hermione looked over at 'Hermione'.

"I didn't do all that, did I?" Hermione asked. 'Hermione' nodded.

Hermione smiled. "Wow. Harry has a lot better life now. He's still a good person, right? Does he still know me and Ron?"

"His personality is inherently good, and you and Ron will always be his friends; nothing can ever change that." 'Hermione' responded.

"How do I know this isn't just a dream?" asked Hermione, pondering this paradox.

"You'll just have to trust me, and for goodness sakes, I'm you, don't you trust yourself!" 'Hermione' replied with a clever smile.

"Will I ever get to see them again, I mean, I love my friends here, but I wish I could see them again, I will, won't I?" thought Hermione aloud.

"You still have things to do Hermione! But don't worry, when you finish, you can go back to your own time. Harry and Ron will notice the changes, and the Marauders will remember you. It'll be alright, you'll be fine."

Hermione contemplated this and grinned.

"Oh, and by the way, good job with Sirius and Severus: the Shrieking Shack incident was a complete mess. Unfortunately, that didn't do much. You know, at heart Severus is a good person, he just needs a bit of urging to make the right choices….pity his parents won't help him with that," said 'Hermione' with a sly smile.

"Is that a hint?" asked Hermione incredulously.

"I'll let you go now. You've completed something great today, but it isn't a time to rest on your laurels. You still have things to do. Enjoy your accomplishments, and then get back to work. Goodbye, I will see you soon, I'm sure." Said 'Hermione, fading, and Hermione knew no more.

Hermione woke at around four in the morning. Unable to get back to sleep, she got up and showered quietly, dressed, and headed down to do some transfiguration notes.

_I can't believe that one simple action of talking to Regulus changes so much, Harry has a much better life now, and Sirius doesn't go to prison!_

"Good grief, Hermione, how long have you been up?" asked the rest of the marauders who slunk down the stairs at around seven-thirty, observing her tuck away some chapter six transfiguration notes in a folder.

"A few hours," replied Hermione, neatly fitting her textbook and her folder back in her bag.

They walked to the Great Hall slowly.

They took seats in the great hall. Sirius grabbed a muffin and swallowed it viciously. Hermione looked around Remus at Regulus, smiling at him talking with all of his new friends. The mail owls came, and Hermione's eyes grazed her daily paper, she wasn't really reading.

"Oh, bloody hell, no." whispered Sirius.

A bright red envelope fluttered into his toast. Sirius picked it up, his hands quavering as he opened it.

The envelope exploded loudly, Mrs. Black's hideous voice screeching throughout the hall.

"FILTHY BLOOD TRAITOR! HOW DO YOU THINKYOUR FATHER AND I REACTED WHEN WE HEARD ABOUT YOUR SO-CALLED ADOPTION! CRUCIO!" Sirius dived under the table in fright, and after a short silence, his mothers voice returned with a mocking laugh, "YOU ALREADY KNOW, I'M SURE, THAT YOU CAN'T CURSE PEOPLE THROUGH HOWLERS, ALTHOUGH KNOWING YOU, YOU'VE ALREADY DIVED UNDER THE TABLE IN FRIGHT, LIKE YOU USED TO DO AT HOME!" Sirius got up, trembling violently and waving his wand screaming "SILENCIO! SILENCIO!" The howler continued. "AT FIRST WE WERE ANGRY THAT YOU HAD DEFILED THE BLACK FAMILY NAME BY BEING ADOPTED BY BLOOD TRAITORS. BUT AFTER A BIT MORE THOUGHT, WE REALIZED YOU WEREN'T REALLY WORTH OUR ANGER, SO THIS HOWLER IS JUST A FANCY WAY FOR US TO SAY THAT YOUR NAME IS NO LONGER ON THE BEAUTIFUL BLACK FAMILY TAPESTRY, AND THAT WE HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY THAT YOU'VE SPLIT UP THE FAMILY!"

Though it was irrational, Sirius screamed back at the howler "I WAS NOT A PART OF YOUR DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY!"

Hermione, James, and Remus gathered around Sirius who was quivering in fury.

Peter tapped Hermione on the shoulder and squeaked, "Regulus, he has one too!"

Almost everyone in the Great Hall was looking down at the Blacks in a mixture of disbelief and pity, although the Slytherins were smiling and laughing at the predicament of the Blacks.

The Marauders looked over at Regulus, who was shaking worse than Sirius, having just heard the contents of Sirius' howler.

Regulus' hands opened the howler gingerly, his eyes squinted shut as he braced himself for his howler.

"SO, YOU'RE THE NEW GRYFFINDOR, EH? I BET YOU'RE WONDERING HOW WE FOUND OUT SO FAST! I HAVE PEOPLE WATCHING YOU, SO YOU SHOULD PROBABLY WATCH OUT! BACK TO THE TOPIC, NEW GRYFFINDOR. I AM DISSAPPOINTED IN YOU; I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE GOOD SON. BUT I GUESS YOU WERE JUST WEAK, IS THAT WHAT THE HAT WHISPERED IN YOUR EAR BEFORE IT SCREAMED GRYFFINDOR TO THE GREAT HALL! DON'T BOTHER COMING HOME, WE WON'T TAKE YOU BACK! YOU KNOW, YOU'RE NAME DID LOOK QUITE NICE ON THE TAPESTRY. IT IS AN UNFORTUNATE TWIST THAT NOW IT IS BURNT AND CRISPY,MMMM, SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!"

The howler smoldered and the Marauders grabbed Sirius under the arms, supporting his shaking legs as they ventured over to Regulus. Sirius sat down next to Regulus, and every eye in the Great hall followed them, watching them ominously. The area where the Marauders and Blacks were sitting was scarce of people.

Dumbledore walked over to where the Blacks were sitting, trying to calm the brothers down. He motioned to the Marauders to let him through to speak with them. He was allowed passage into the circle which immediately closed around him to prevent unwanted ears from hearing anything.

Regulus' head was down, his eyes staring fixedly at his shoes.

"Sorry, Professor Dumbledore."

"What are you sorry for? You've done nothing wrong." Dumbledore replied, placing a hand on Regulus' shoulder. Regulus recoiled as though Dumbledore had smacked him rather than just put his hand on him.

"Just because I live with that doesn't mean I don't know it's offensive. I should just go be in Slytherin."

Dumbledore removed his hand from Regulus' shoulder, as it was obviously making Regulus rather uncomfortable.

"No, I'm afraid that all decisions made by the hat are final. But why would you want to change anyway?"

Regulus' eyes never left the floor as he replied. "My parents just disturbed the Great Hall because of this! Please, let me go to Slytherin, my Gryffindor-ness is obviously disruptive."

Hermione decided to step in at this moment.

"Regulus, would you really want to change house just because of a Howler? That's exactly what your parents would want. But that isn't fair; they should respect you for who you are, Gryffindor and all. Avis Colora" She tapped his head and colored canaries began circling his head. "I know for a fact that Gryffindor is the right house for you, this is where you're meant to be. Now, you'll be late to your first class if you don't head out soon," she finished, tapping his head. The birds disappeared, and Regulus looked up for the first time, with a small smile playing in his eyes. He grabbed his bag and followed the hordes of people who had decided the Howler situation was getting dull and were heading to class.

"Quite a talent you have there, Miss Granger," said Dumbledore with a twinkle on his voice.

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione, going slightly pink.

Dumbledore gave her a 'Don't be silly' look and replied "You just told Regulus to go on with his life and he did so happily. I try the exact same thing, and he fidgets and asked to be moved into Slytherin. Do not try to deny it; you have a talent with people, Miss Granger."

"Oh, I erm…thanks, but that's not really a talent, I think, it's not as if it's a magical power or something."

Dumbledore's eyes flashed with all-knowing-ness, and they turned to Sirius, who had his jaw set in a rather unattractive scowl. Hermione looked over at Dumbledore, whose eyes clearly said to her "go on!" She knelt next to Sirius who averted her eyes at all costs.

"Was there really any point to sending Regulus and me dual howlers aside from complete humiliation?"

Hermione nodded. "I think you've probably hit the nail smack dab square on the head. But that's ok, because these howlers were merely a sad last attempt to exert their control over you and Regulus. But it won't work, will it? You and Reg will go on with your lives, because that is exactly what they don't want you to do. Do you understand?"

Sirius pondered her words for a few moments, and then grinned. "Yeah, you're right. It isn't worth being upset over." He looked around and noticed that the hall was empty. "We should probably go to transfiguration, now. ONWARD!"

They arrived at transfiguration several minutes later, and were very grateful that no one asked questions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite the fact that it was their first day in classes, teachers had already piled on homework in mammoth proportions.

GAAAAAHHHH! I CAN'T TAKE IT! TOOO MUCH TOOO DOOOOOOO!" whined Sirius loudly, throwing down a stack of books on the common room table, which toppled over on top of him.

Hermione sighed and shook her head.

"Here, first do Transfiguration and Potions, they'll take the longest. Then, practice the spells we learned in charms. It would also help if you'd use your free periods during the day to do homework instead of just sleeping or visiting the kitchens during them," she said as she helped him pick up the large piles of books which had pinned him to the floor.

Peter and James said simultaneously, "Will you tell us what order to do homework in too?"

"James, Peter, you have the same classes as Sirius today. Just do the same thing he's doing, I'll come check it when you're done."

Hermione smiled as Sirius, James, and Peter nodded in appreciation and began writing furiously. Remus and Hermione enjoyed a game of chess, having already completed their homework. Remus won two out of three, and Hermione turned in early after checking over the boy's homework. She was completely exhausted after waking up at four in the morning, and yawned her "good-nights" and "See-you-in-the-mornings" as she dragged herself up the dormitory stairs.

She fell into bed with her clothes on, not bothering to get into any pajamas.

_Mmm, so tired. Today could've been worse. Sure, the whole Howler business was a bit sketchy, but it definitely could've been worse._ She thought to herself as she slowly lost consciousness._ I suppose I'll talk to Severus tomorrow, or at least sometime this week, he's been a bit jumpy lately…_ was the last thought to shimmy through her exhausted mind before she fell asleep.

**Authors Note:** Oh good god. I typed this on my laptop, and then had to transfer it to another computer (because my laptop has no internet). This chapter is sixteen pages long, 5607 words. I started re-typing this at two in the morning. It is now six in the morning and I am finally done. I would like to sincerely apologize for the grammatical mistakes that I have made, I'm using spell check, publishing, and then dragging my sorry ass to bed. I'd like to say also that I've worked on this chapter for two weeks, a half hour to two hours a night typing, revising, re-typing, and re-revising. I think this has to do with the fact that I keep having nightmares about my fanfiction turning out to be a bad fanfic filled with clichés, grammatical errors, and chat speak. It is probably not healthy to spend this much time on a fanfic, but I will say this, I am dedicated.

**Co-Authors Note:** I went to bed long before Olivia did. I am so sorry for the delay it is entirely my fault. But I've been really busy lately, and it takes me an hour per two pages to edit, and I don't have enough time or energy to do that all at once.


	10. A Very Important Date

**CAN:**Hello once again, little 'un's! I do realize that there was a long delay in between chapters, and once again it is all my fault. My (valid) excuse is that I had serious editors block. Editors, you know what I'm talking about. Please, for God's sake, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!really don't care if it's only one word, just review! I love you all, dearies. Enjoy!

**Authors note:** I'm about ready to cry. I'm tired, I'm hungry, I need coffee, I still have at least 2 hours of homework left, and it's 9:18pm right now, not to mention I need a shower.

BUT HEY! At least this is FINALLY done!

ENJOY

Chapter Ten: A Very Important Date

For the next two weeks, Hermione heard in her head bits and pieces of the conversation she'd had with herself playing like a broken record.

_You know, at heart Severus is a good person, he just needs a bit of urging to make the right choices….pity his parents won't help him with that," said 'Hermione'' with a sly smile._

"_Is that a hint?" asked Hermione incredulously._

It drove her insane. She went to bed every night with her own voice talking her to sleep, still repeating that fateful conversation. Actually, she entertained the notion that she had already passed well beyond the realm of madness, but instinct told her this wasn't the case. Then again, the insane never seemed to think of themselves as insane, so how would she know?

_I have to do something, _Hermione thought every single day. _This has to end; I'm losing sleep over this. I know what I have to do. Why don't I just do it?_

In all honesty, Hermione dreaded talking to Severus. She knew he was described as a, "Slimy git up to his eyeballs in the Dark Arts". And no matter how many times she told herself that perhaps he was merely misunderstood, she couldn't help but have doubts as to her ability to help Severus.

"No," Hermione told herself aloud (when she was alone, of course). "It is absolutely possible and even likely that you will succeed." After saying things like this, she would often think about how she sounded so much like Remus.

She took to sitting long hours in the library as close to Severus as she could, attempting to pluck up the courage to talk to him. She was somewhat nervous, because she certainly remembered Snape's somewhat…edgy manner.

After a week of just watching him, she decided she couldn't take it anymore. The September Hogsmeade weekend was coming up, and she promised herself that she would talk to Snape before that date came upon her.

On one of her library expeditions, she noticed that Severus' head was bent low over a book, his long hair framing his face. As he scribbled frantically in its margins, she recognized it almost instantly from her sixth year at Hogwarts.

Memories flooded through Hermione's mind, flashing before her eyes. Harry performing nonverbal _'levicorpus',_ Harry after the Sectumsempra incident, and more importantly, Harry's complete awe and admiration for the Half-Blood Prince.

Filled with sudden bravery, Hermione walked over and sat down across from him, waiting for him to acknowledge her presence.

After several minutes of Severus' continued frenzied scrawling, Hermione became slightly impatient, and tapped him on the shoulder.

Snape recoiled as if Hermione had some kind of fatal disease spread instantaneously by the tapping of shoulders. "What do you want?" he asked sharply, quickly slamming the book shut and throwing it haphazardly into his battered looking school bag.

"Well, I actually wanted to talk to y-" but Hermione was interrupted by Sirius, who walked in and, as usual, started to seriously beat on Severus. Normally, Hermione could've distracted him by herself, but she knew it was no good when she spotted James, Peter, and Remus, who had walked in just behind Sirius. All of them had their attention fixed soundly on Severus, and he them.

"Hey, Snivelly, Madam Pince isn't here, are you scared?" said Sirius with a smirk. Hermione was shocked to see not his usual, good-natured smirk crossing his face, but a malicious, cruel one.

Snape immediately stepped up. "No, but you seem to be rather hesitant about coming here without three of your bum boys behind you, so I'd say you probably are."

"Hmm, now you see, I asked them to stay behind but they decided to come along anyway, because that's what friends do. Oh, sorry, how could I forget? You don't actually have any friends, do you?"

"Actually, I have more important things I could be doing than talking to you," Severus said, putting a heinous emphases on the word, "you".

Hermione gave an irritated sigh at the Marauders' behavior. How could they be so immature? She waited for this situation to die down, but unfortunately it didn't She could see the devilish look in Sirius' eyes. He waved his wand, and suddenly, Severus was in the air.

Hermione lost it.

"SIRIUS! PUT HIM DOWN!" she screamed angrily, drawing herself up to her full height. If looks could kill...well, Sirius would be in for it.

"Ah, come on, he's just Snivelly, why do you care?" Sirius replied, while happily waving Severus around in the air by moving his wand in exaggerated arcs, not really caring that Severus was banging into the bookshelves and ceiling.

Hermione gave him the death glare once again. "All right, I'll put him down," he said in an overly-casual voice, and suddenly Severus was flying from the high ceiling of the library to the floor fifty feet below him. Thinking fast, Hermione pulled out her wand and, with some very quick nonverbal spells, Severus ended up sitting unscathed on a conjured cushion in the middle of the floor.

Sirius, James, and Peter were all trying to contain their glee at Severus; near-death experience. Finally, their unsuccessfully contained laughter was released. However, what really sent Hermione over the edge was the sight of Remus laughing along with them.

Snape got up, shaking in rage. "Sectumsem-" he began to hiss menacingly, when he was cut off by a silencing charm from Hermione, who was striding quickly towards the Marauders.

_Slap! _

Remus stopped laughing to clutch his face. She stepped up to all the Marauders, hitting them harder than she had ever hit anybody. She turned back to Remus and smacked him again, mainly because she expected better of him especially. He seemed a little indignant at her prejudice, but she figured he'd get over it.

"Sirius, you could have killed him!" She said in outrage.

"So?" Sirius replied nonchalantly. She responded with a hard kick to the groin. Sirius bent over, eyes watering in pain.

"I EXPECTED BETTER OF YOU! I CAN'T EVEN **LOOK** AT YOU RIGHT NOW! **GET OUT!**"

They didn't exactly leave, they just kind of dragged Sirius to the table next to where Severus and Hermione were sitting.

"I am so, so sorry, Severus. Are you all right?"

It wasn't so much that she actually cared whether _Severus_ was perfectly all right personally, but that she cared about people in general and she couldn't _stand _Sirius' unprovoked attack on Snape.

"I'm fine, thank you," Severus said in a somewhat stiff and uncomfortable manner, "I appreciate you not, err, letting me fall to my death."

"Oh, you're quite welcome. I just can't STAND motiveless attacks like that, it's disgusting. I believe that's something you and I have in common, eh?…" She replied, shaking her head in disappointment with her friends.

"Yes, we do have that in common, I suppose…and, Erm…well, err…" Severus sputtered. Hermione looked at him in a concerned matter.

"Yes?" Hermione asked in worried tones.

"WouldyouliketogotoHogsmeadewithme?" He said quickly, not daring to look at Hermione.

"What did you say?"

"W-would y-y-you like to go t-to Hogsmeade with m-me," He stuttered, still staring pointedly at the table, as if some fascinating relic had appeared there.

Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter hadn't left the table next to theirs, and all of them had their mouths open in shock.

_WHAT DID HE JUST ASK HER? _Remus thought furiously, his face reddening and his gray eyes darkening a shade. _Surely she's not going to accept! I mean...it's Snivelly! _

Remus walked over.

"She isn't interested," he said over Hermione's shoulder threateningly.

Hermione glared at him, shook her head, and then replied to Severus.

"I'd love to. I'll meet you outside the Hog's Head at nine.

Hermione picked up her things and flounced off; leaving not only James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus speechless, but Severus was also speechless with his mouth dropped open.

_That'll show them!_ She thought happily to herself once she was far away from the library. She then froze and dropped her bag as the thought hit her. _Shit. I just accepted a date with Severus. Shitshitshitshitshit what am I going to do? Oh no, oh no, oh shit, fuck, shit. No, I'm going to have to tell him I just meant as a friend, oh no, oh no._

Suddenly, Hermione found her life flashing before her eyes. That was when she realized: SHE HAD PASSED INTO THE REALM OF MADNESS!

It was a second later that she became conscious of the fact that she hadn't talked to Severus about the Death Eaters yet. She kicked herself mentally as she picked up her bag, and walked in a much less flouncing style to the Fat Lady, where she muttered the password, walked up to her dormitory, and threw herself onto her bed, her intentions to lay there for a while and think about the best way to shatter Severus' hopes and dreams of one day having a Mrs. Hermione Snape to come home to.

Her moping was interrupted after several minutes by Lily rushing frantically up the dormitory stairs. Hermione heard her trip several times while running up the stairs, banging into the closed door in her rush to see Hermione. Upon entering the dormitory, she immediately jumped onto Hermione's bed, inhaling deeply.

"Hermione, I just saw Remus, and he told me, that you talked to Snivel-I mean Snape, and you, and he, and, and…" she said hurriedly and in one breath.

"What?" asked Hermione tiredly, not bothering to look up at her, knowing what was coming.

"Well, is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Don't play dumb, did you really accept Severus' offer, you know, are you going to Hogsmeade with him?" asked Lily in a voice that said all too clearly that she prayed that this wasn't the truth.

Hermione lifted her head and nodded.

Lily gasped.

"NO!"

Hermione nodded again.

"Why? WHY?" Lily screamed at her.

"I don't know, Sirius came in and was trying to get a rise out of Severus, and levitated him and dropped him, and almost killed him, so I was really mad at Remus and Sirius and James and Peter, so when he asked and Remus came up and said 'she isn't interested' so I accepted just to show him I could make my own decisions, and then I realized that I'd just accepted a date with SEVERUS and WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?" Hermione rambled.

"Calm down. Breathe in….Breath out…" said Lily, who moved herself closer to Hermione's end of the bed.

After Hermione had figured out the whole breathing thing, Lily began to speak again.

"Now, why don't you just tell him tomorrow in Potions that you'd just like to go as friends?"

"BUT HOW!" screeched Hermione, who began to hyperventilate again.

"Stop hyperventilating. You'll figure out a way, I know you will. And quite honestly, I think that you should try to be his friend, I mean, he doesn't really have any, and I'm not proud to say that it's James' fault, I mean, him and his friends are always picking on Snape, always humiliating him. He'd probably be nicer if he had some friends, or just someone to talk to."

Hermione thought about Lily's words, and realized that she probably could figure out a way to tell Severus she meant just as 'friends'. He might not be so disappointed, she thought. _It's not as though_ _he has any friends, and he hasn't said anything to me about being muggle-born, so maybe he doesn't know._

"I know what you mean. Anyway, I'm still mad at James and them, and I don't want to spend the entire day with him...we could meet up somewhere."

"Sure. After your big date, let's get tea at Madame Puddifoot's."

Hermione rolled her eyes, but agreed. Lily promised to yell at the Marauders when she next saw them, and Hermione and Lily skipped dinner to help each other study for the Defense Against the Dark Arts test on Monday.

…………………………………….

Hermione woke up the next day, still angry at the Marauders for bullying Severus unprovoked. _Honestly, I don't know what runs through their minds when they're torturing him. It's horrid._

She declined the seat that had been saved for her by Remus in favor of breakfasting alone. She took a seat at a deserted end of the table, grabbed a crumpet and buttered it, and used the extra half hour to study for Potions.

Remus came and sat down in front of her, interrupting her studying.

"Why aren't you speaking to me, and the Marauders?" he asked, his beautiful gray eyes flashing.

Hermione gave a disgruntled snort and replied, "Well, it couldn't have _anything _to do with the fact that Sirius almost _KILLED _Snape, and you laughed at it, now, would it?"

"Okay, I can understand that, but why do you have to go on a _date _with Snivelly-I mean Snape, isn't that just outside of the bounds of reality? And why did you hit me twice?"

"Well, I hit you twice because I really thought you were better than that. I guess I was wrong. Remus, leave me alone, please. I won't stay mad at you forever, just go away for right now," she said softly.

Remus looked at her as though he was mortally wounded, got up, and left to go sit with James, Sirius, and Peter. _Ugh, now I've disappointed her. I mean...the way she looked at me! I swear, I am never getting mixed up in torturing Snivel- Snape again. Never. I just hope I can make it up to her. _

Lily joined Hermione at the table after yelling at Sirius and James about not killing people and then they enjoyed a good discussion about the many faults of the opposite sex.

The bell rang, and Lily and Hermione headed down to potions. Hermione began to feel very sick at having to tell Snape that she meant to go to Hogsmeade with him as friends, not as a real date.

She was very thankful when Slughorn told them to break off in threes, and Hermione dragged Lily with her to go work with Snape, who normally did just fine alone despite Slughorn's instructions to break off in twos or threes every class.

"Can Lily and I work with you, Snape?" Hermione asked, her voice trembling slightly.

Severus nodded, and began to work on the Invigoration Draught they had been assigned to make,

Hermione was so jumpy that she couldn't pay attention to what was on the board, and on more than one occasion, she found Snape grabbing her arms in desperate attempts to stop her from adding the wrong ingredients.

"Hermione, you don't add six CUPS of peppermint, you add six ounces! Listen; let me add the ingredients from now on, alright?" He hissed in a bizarrely gentle manner.

Hermione received a kick from Lily, who mouthed at her "YOU'RE JUST FRIENDS! YOU NEED TO TELL HIM THAT!"

Hermione cleared her throat and started.

"Severus, erm, you know how you asked me to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

Severus didn't even look up from the potion which he was carefully stirring as he replied.

"Allow me to guess: You want to ditch me, perhaps someone better looking asked you, perhaps you just don't like me, I understand, I suppose I won't see you there."

"No, no, not that at all. I wanted to thank you for asking me. It's just that, well, I barely know you, I'd like to get to know you as a friend first, you know what I mean? And what better way to do that then to meet in Hogsmeade and spend a few hours together, eh?" she said all this very fast, not meeting Severus' eyes at all for fear of a vicious outburst on the part of Severus.

On the contrary, Snape merely raised his eyebrows and agreed that, yes, it would be best to be friends first and yes, he would still be happy to meet her in Hogsmeade at nine outside the Hog's Head.

_Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with a trip to Hogsmeade with Hermione Granger. I would say I love you, but I'm far too manly. Yep, that's me...Severus Snape, soon-to-be suitor of Hermione Granger _Snape thought with a barely concealed grin.

Hermione had expected this conversation to go a whole lot worse than it did. Severus actually seemed rather happy that she hadn't backed out entirely with meeting him in Hogsmeade on a date-like event. In fact, she actually saw him smile when he thought no one was watching.

_He really must be unfamiliar with having anybody even consider being his comrade, his matey, his chummy, his pal, his buddy, his sidekick, his second in command, his homie-G, his lil' dawg, his piemaster, his frito-lay, his..._

_SHUT UP BRAIN!_

They all turned their potions in. Hermione walked out feeling a lot better, and Snape walked out with a secret grin lighting up his face.

……………………………………..

Hermione was extremely, extremely jittery the day of the Hogsmeade trip.

Skipping breakfast, she took the secret passageway into Hogsmeade through Honeyduke's early in the morning and took a walk to the cave where Harry, Ron, and she had spoken to Snuffles in her fifth year, enjoying the scenery. She sat on the edge of the cave, looking over Hogsmeade, admiring the view of Hogwarts in the backdrop, in front of the beautiful snowcapped mountains.

Hermione checked her watch, and, noting that she had five minutes to get to the Hog's Head, she walked briskly out the winding road leading from the mouth of the cave into the heart of the village.

Hermione found him waiting patiently at the Hog's Head with a small bouquet of orchids in hand.

"Severus, I thought we agreed this wasn't a date!" she said, accepting the flowers and sniffing them deeply.

"Yes, I know, but I figured there'd be no harm." He replied with an almost...shy look in his eye that Hermione would never think possible of him. She almost giggled aloud at how embarrassed he'd be in the future.

"Well, thank you, Severus," she replied, shrinking the flowers and putting them in her pocket. She promised she'd put them in a vase with some water when she got back to the castle, and they set off.

Severus took her up to the Shrieking Shack and gave her the complete history surrounding the myths of its haunting, which Hermione was only too happy to listen to. He then took her down to Eylops Owl Emporium and shared the history of its name, which was another Hermione didn't know. The fact that she knew so little about Hogsmeade startled her, and she vowed to do some serious reading when she got back to the castle.

"Shall we head down to the Three Broomsticks?" Snape asked as they wound through the cobblestone streets of the village. Hermione nodded in agreement, and they stepped inside, Snape insisting upon buying her a drink while she got a table.

Meandering slowly to the scrubbed wooden tables in the back of the crowded pub, Hermione let her thoughts float randomly through her head, just for a moment.

_He is so weirdly polite…it's almost awkward being around him…I wonder why he wasn't in Gryffindor, the hat said in my first year that Gryffindors were chivalrous, and Snape is certainly refined enough to be considered chivalrous…I wonder what happened to him in the future to make him so mean…Oh, here he comes…BUTTERBEER!_

Hermione smiled as Snape handed her a Butterbeer, and settled down with some mulled mead for himself.

"Hermione, before the Marauders came and, err, attempted to kill me, you said you needed to talk to me," he said, taking a sip of his mead.

Hermione suddenly remembered. How could she have forgotten in the first place?

"Yes, I totally forgot! I'm not sure how I did, but I did! Thank you for reminding me!" She replied. Without warning, she reached across the table, grabbed his left sleeve and pulled it up.

Looking relieved, she saw that there was no tattoo, yet.

Severus withdrew his arm quickly as though Hermione's touch burned him.

"Excuse me?" He asked in a suddenly chilly tone of voice.

"I'll tell you something if you promise to believe me, and to heed every piece of advice I give you."

She had rehearsed this many times, which is why it surprised her that she had forgotten. Her plan was to get him just interested enough to want to hear, and not just blurt it out with him not paying attention.

"Alright, I promise." He replied skeptically.

"What would you be willing to swear on?"

"I'll swear on…my potions book."

"That's an important possession, then?" Hermione replied, knowing all too well why he'd swear on it.

"It has secrets in it."

"I see. Well, if you are to listen to me, you will believe me and heed every warning and piece of advice I give you, or not only will I be the owner of the Half-Blood Prince's book, but its secrets will be forever lost"

He nodded slowly and they shook.

"Now, tell me, how is it you know about the Half Blood Prince?"

"That's none of your concern. I'd just advise you not to leave it at Hogwarts during summer break. You will take it home, and you will never let it see the light of day again. Okay?"

"Well, I promised I'd observe everything you warned me about; Slytherin's are not without honor," he replied, getting slightly tense at her unbridled knowledge of his doings.

"Well, I'm not sure when you get the offer, but you are invited to join the Death Eater's of the Dark Lord. You may get the proposal tomorrow, in three years, or perhaps you got it last week. It doesn't matter. I'm not going to force you into anything, but I strongly advise you not to join. If you join the Death Eaters, you will have all the power you want, and more. Not for long, though. It all comes crashing down around your feet after a while. Furthermore, this short-lived power comes at a terrible price: you end up killing and torturing hundreds of muggle-borns, wizards who married muggles, muggles, and anyone who disagrees with the Dark Lord's views on muggles. Not only that, but your master's power, and thus your power, ends at the hands of a baby. _A baby! _You have to bargain to keep yourself out of Azkaban, and you're lucky to escape in the end. You end up being a potion's master for over a decade, a slave to everyone around you except your students. No power, but so much responsibility for all the horrible things you did," she said, hoping against hope he'd take her seriously.

"What do you mean? Aren't muggle-borns substandard? I mean, killing them is probably a bit far, but-"

"Excuse me? May I point out that YOU asked me on a date, and I'm a muggle-born? Certainly you don't find me substandard, do you?"

Severus' eyes widened and he swallowed loudly.

"I didn't mean that, I mean, you're really clever, and erm…well, certainly not substandard in any way. I just…" he growled, very annoyed with himself and for that matter Hermione. Was it too much for her to be a pureblood? Why did she have to be so smart and pretty and kind? Why did he have to be in this position?

"So do you really hate Muggle-borns, or is that just how you were raised?"

He looked down, staring into his mulled mead like it could answer this question for him. _I've been asking myself that for years, and I still don't want to answer. I don't want to answer. I don't want to answer. _But he knew the truth.

"I take it that you don't find me a poor quality witch then?"

He nodded, still staring deeply into his mead as though expecting it to share with him the secrets of the universe.

"Then you don't really hate Muggles and Muggle-borns, do you?"

"I guess not," He replied, lifting his eyes away from his drink, "but that's not the way I have been brought up at all. Mum has always said you all are worthless scum, but you're a perfect example of why that's not true... I don't want to have to choose."

"It'll work itself out, I promise. You won't be able to convince your mother though; I can assure you of that. She may not be a bad person, but she's used to what you'd call the 'old ways'. And old dogs don't learn new tricks, if you'll pardon my use of the muggle phrase. Some more advice from me to you; don't let it bother you. As a mother, she wants what's best for you, and that's her idea of the best."

Snape merely shook his head.

"So, you aren't going to join the Death Eaters?"

"Well, I promised you I wouldn't, so I guess I can't, can I?"

"You know in the fut- I mean, I've always been under the impression that you're…errrrr…. mean, rude, and hard to talk to. I was actually very nervous about even bringing up the subject of your to-be Death Eater-hood, because you seem so sharp all the time. Obviously from talking to you, this isn't true. So why do you portray yourself as a foul, offensive, snide person?"

Severus shrugged. "I don't think it's prudent to show your heart on the sleeve, like most Gryffindors do. Slytherin's pride themselves on it. I read in a book. I think it's in my dorm if you'd like to borrow it. It's about each house. You know, about the skills each house seems to excel in, what members of each house are likely to fail in, and all about the founders, too!"

Hermione allowed herself to slip into pleasant conversation with someone who she had considered up to then a mortal enemy. She even forgot she had agreed to meet Lily at Madam Puddifoot's for tea.

……………………………………………………………………

"I've told you once; I've told you a thousand times, it wasn't a DATE!" She said to Sirius several days later, after she had finally forgiven him for trying to kill Snape.

"I see, then what would you call going to Hogsmeade then? It is the ULITIMATE date spot, believe me, I know, I'm a pimp daddy-o!" He replied.

"Sirius, it's the _only _date spot. Besides that, do you know what it's like to have no friends?"

Sirius shook his head.

"Well, it's horrible. No one deserves that, Sirius, not even 'Snivellus'. And just as a hint, or perhaps more of a threat, he hates Harry and treats him badly not only because he has no friends, but because Harry's father and his three best friends ensured it. Now, if you keep treating him badly, you're going to feel the effects of your action very unpleasantly. Perhaps not now, but you just wait, you just wait."

Sirius and James both got very quiet.

Attempting to lighten the mood after this troubling proclamation, Peter began to fill the Great Hall with balloon animals until Dumbledore finally caught on and asked him to please stop.

……………………………………………………………..

**TIME PASSES  
NOVEMBER**

"Peter, it's 'Oviad' not 'Oliad'. 'Oliad' will result in your subject being turned into a teacup, not cause their hair to go curly." Hermione said, head in her hands as she looked at the china teacup in front of her.

Not that James and Sirius weren't a fine pair of teacups; it just wasn't how they were meant to be.

It was kind of funny how they looked so much like Chip from Beauty and the Beast, but Hermione didn't feel that Professor McGonagall would appreciate that at the moment, if she even knew what Beauty and the Beast was.

"Peter, Peter, Peter. What happened? They're…teacups." Professor McGonagall sighed, looking down at the cups.

"Erm, I'm not really sure…" Peter replied, staring pointedly over McGonagall's shoulder, not making eye contact with her.

"Hermione, Remus, take the teacups to the Hospital Wing. Peter, just leave and practice that for homework. I really don't want to deal with this. Class dismissed," McGonagall said, pocketing her wand and rubbing her temples with one hand. "Oh, and if you all tell Professor Dumbledore I let you out early, which is against regulations, I will kill you. Personally."

"Wow, McGonagall dismissed class early! We should turn into teacups more often," laughed the teacup James.

The teacups looked rather odd. The one that was James was bright pink with a frilly pattern around the rim, and Sirius was a steely black, shining and with no pattern. Remus and Hermione both felt very silly walking to the hospital wing with two teacups and talking to them.

"Madam Pom-poms," yelled teacup Sirius, "We're teacups! Help us!"

Madam Pomfrey bustled over. With one look, she sent them onto Professor Dumbledore.

Dumbledore couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of his two most trouble making students turned into frilly-patterned teacups.

"I suppose you want me to fix this?" He said with a small smile on his face.

The teacups both shouted, "YES!" and with a flick of his wand James and Sirius were transfigured back into people.

With much bowing on the part of James and Sirius and once all thank-you's had been said, the five left Dumbledore's office.

"Well, it isn't everyday you get turned into a teacup…" said James, still moving his arms about crazily, still getting used to the feeling of having human appendages again.

"We have tons of unfinished business, you realize that we've gone through almost all of November and still haven't picked prank teams for the Annual Prank-Off or gone down to Hogsmeade! It's blasphemous!"

"Do you even know what 'blasphemous' means, Sirius?"

"No. Why do you ask, Remmy-poo?"

Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius, but agreed that they probably should at least pick teams.

Remus and Hermione paired off in the prank war, and Sirius took James and Peter. They all agreed that they'd play 'Rock-Paper-Scissors' for the Marauders Map closer to the date of the pranking, and that whoever didn't get the map got the cloak. As usual, you had to prank a teacher and a Slytherin. Remus and Hermione called dibs on the Room of Requirement for planning, and Sirius, James, and Peter went to the common room to make loose strategies for their prank.

After walking back and forth thinking of a room that would help them make the best plans possible, they opened a large metal door into a room with two chairs over a table with a map of Hogwarts as the top. There were small baskets of miniature flags organized by color to pin on the map for location strategizing, and large amounts of parchment were stacked up neatly with quills and ink laid to the side. The walls were bookshelves with all kinds of books on transfiguration, charms, potions, and other random spells that could help them with the prank.

"Well, this is incredibly nice," said Hermione, looking around the room in awe.

"No time, we need to get plotting!"

They discussed pranking for a long while. One idea Remus had really appealed to Hermione; turn a Slytherin into a large, pink giraffe. Hermione jotted it down, and they worked on a way to get a Slytherin, deciding on mixing a spell to slow reaction time and a spell to transfigure a person temporarily into a giraffe. A convenient path for use of capturing a Slytherin from their dorm was drawn on the map, thought out for use in the dead of night so no teachers would spot them. They practiced on a large dummy that had been laying in corner. Remus had to consult his copy of, "Invent Your Own Spells, Grade Six: A Masters Course" before they finally got it right, and it was a long time before they got the slow-acting element of the spell to work properly. But it was all worth it. The completely forgot to go to any of their other classes, or even to go to dinner as they planned the absolutely perfect prank for use on a teacher.

**Authors Note:** It takes us two weeks to write, edit, rewrite, re-edit, and publish each chapter of this story. It will take you roughly thirty seconds to write a review. Please, for the love of Pete, just REVIEW the DAMN chapter!


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